Hello

All righty! I say it every week but I promise after this week I won't say it anymore but HOLY COW time passes so fast! I can't believe it. It is already almost July! 

Anyway! This week was good and crazy! I don't have a ton to share this week! 

EXCHANGE IN BORDEAUX

On Monday we had an awesome exchange in Bordeaux! I went with Elder Taylor and Elder Sanchez went with Elder Beyers. I was happy to get to go with Elder Taylor just because we did a mini-exchange in Lyon before to teach seminary. We had an awesome time. 

We taught a lesson or two and it was already time for us to head out to our train. Unfortunately, the Zone Leaders live super far away from the Gare so we were stressing that we were going to miss our train. It was so close. We road the bus as far as we could but then the traffic got super congested and we bailed out of the bus and ran for the Gare. We probably ran close to a mile. hahaha. Poor Elder Taylor was fasting too. He was about to kill over. We made our train though with a few minutes to spare! :) 

NOS AMIS 

Zoraya is doing awesome. This week we have a big BBQ planned at a member’s house and they told us to invite all of our amis to it. Zoraya is practically a member. Everyone loves her so much. She just needs to get baptized. But her date is coming around the corner. July 12th! Just three weeks. 

Juan Antonio is also doing really well. He seems happier now. It is pretty cool to see the different that the gospel can make in someone's life. That is one of my favorite aspects of the mission--is to see people change. 

Beatrice is also doing well! We have taught her all of the lessons and we are just waiting on few things and then as soon as they have been arranged she will be baptized :) 

BRANCH ACTIVITY

This week we had a Branch activity were they made 72 hour kits and they opened them all up and reviewed them. with that they improve and saw what needed to be added or subtracted. Afterwards there was a picnic. 

MY STUDIES

Right now I am studying charity and the importance of it. I find that too often we complicate the gospel. We stress too much about the details and everything that we "have to do" but really there are just a few basic things that we must do to be happy and to live the gospel.

One of these things is to have charity. Charity is the highest form of love, meaning that if you have charity for others you love them as yourself. It means being humble, forgiving, and willing to help others.  One of the scriptures that I came across that I really liked was in 1 Corthinians 13:4--

 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Out of all of these principles, the greatest is charity...

This principle is further inforced with Moroni 7:46

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

We must have charity! Because if we don’t, we are nothing! 

Anyway! That is it for this week! I love you and pray for you lots!

Love,

Elder Johnson

PS-The next transfer date is the 6th of July... two weeks from now! It's creeping up! 

An Apostle, Baptisms, and Train Strikes

Wow! I have so much to tell you all! I feel like I haven't emailed in forever but really it is just because so much has happened this week. This past week seems like it was SO long but again, that's just because there was a lot of stuff that went down!

NICE CONFERENCE WAS QUITE NICE

Okay, honestly, this has probably been the best week of my entire mission thus far. A little bit about the Nice Odysses.  So, the bus ride was really, really, really long. But it was good because that gave me the opportunity to study a lot. I was planning on reading the entire Book of Mormon but the zone leaders gave us a packet with the biographies of Elder and Sister Andersen and all of the talks he has ever given as a general authority. So I decided that it would be better to study that. 

Anyway! The bus ride down was interesting in the fact that we had been invited to not bring any games, talk loudly, or do anything that would disrupt the spirit. It was very interesting to see, mainly because I know the bus ride could have been VERY different from what it was. 

So we get into Nice around 6 and go directly to our hotel rooms. The Zone Leaders delivered pizza and gave us our breakfasts to keep until tomorrow. The other three hours we had before bedtime we used to write in our journals, talk a little bit louder than we had on the bus, and just relax and read scriptures. 

The next morning we got to the conference center around 7.30ish so that we could practice all of the hymns we were going to sing and study more. We had been told to not talk to old companions or missionaries that we hadn't seen in a long time. That was hard---but it was really good because we were able to preserve the spirit that was about.  After practicing the hymns the AP's came in and told us that Elder Anderson would be in shortly. They weren't joking because he literally walked in 5 seconds later. 

We all stood, took a picture, and then started with the actual conference.

THE CONFERENCE

Let me tell you, this conference has probably been the most spiritual experience on my mission thus far. It was absolutely incredible. I wish I could share everything that I experienced and felt but it is simply impossible. I have neither the time nor the ability to convey what I felt. 

In short, I learned things that are going to help me throughout my mission and more importantly, my life. Something Elder Andersen shared that I really just hit me was the importance of faith in our lives. He told us "what a privilege" it was to serve as a missionary in France because here you must learn how to act in faith. In France, I am learning to battle the evils of discouragement and learn to have unwavering discipleship. 

The things that I learn here as a missionary, will carry throughout my life.

My absolute favorite part of the conference was at the very end. Elder Anderson finished speaking, we sang the closing hymn and after the closing prayer, we all just sat in silence for about five minutes. As president Roney said in his weekly letter to the mission, "my heart burned." 

RIDE HOME

The ride home was pretty funny. At one point, I looked around and I would say about 90 percent of the bus was asleep. Hahaha. Everyone was so exhausted. We took two days to get back because we left on the same day as the conference. Our bus driver took us on more scenic ways which was cool. After staying the night in Montpellier we got back on the road and got into Bordeaux around 2ish. Our train was supposed to be around three but unfortunately, there is a huge train strike going on so only the main, important lines are running. Who would have thought a train to Bergerac wasn't essential? SO! We had to take another bus after riding a total of 20ish hours on a bus the days previous. 

We also had an exchange in Bergerac the next day with our district leader because we needed to do the baptismal interview for Juan Antonio. So we got into Bergerac around 8:00 and went back to the apartment exhausted. 

BAPTÊMES

Well! I feel like I have kind of dropped the ball on telling you how Antonio is but he is great!  He got baptized Saturday! I was super happy for him. The baptism was really cool too because it was in the Dordogne River! Frere Benito baptize him because he could do the ordinance in Portuguese. 

After the actual baptism Juan Antonio came out of the river and he waved his arms around super happily. Elder Sanchez asked how he felt and he said that he felt great. It is always cool to see how happy God makes people. 

OH! And a tender mercy of the Lord, Annick (the sister of Rachelle, who was baptized when I was in Lyon) got baptized this week! It was in the mission newsletter! That made me SUPER happy. I'm glad she finally made the steps necessary to be baptized. I'm going to ask president if I can send her and her sister a letter.

OTHER THINGS

So, in the mission newsletter president told us that Elder Andersen said that we were the "most prepared" missionaries that he has ever met. President Roney is super proud of us :)  

So I also kind of dropped the ball on this too, but right now we are having a mission wide competition called "THE WORLD CUP OF THE FRANCE LYON MISSION" and lessons, baptisms, and other things all count as points for your zone that you are serving in. But, the goal of this game is to have as many baptisms possible on July 5th at 6.00 PM. We are working towards a mission wide baptism! As a gift to Elder Andersen, we gave him a list of all the people who we thought would be baptized before or on that day. We have been working hard, and apparently there are 125 names on the list we gave him so it will be cool to see how our hard work turns out. 

I think that that is it for this week! I love you all so much! Always trust the Lord, even when you can't quite balance it out in your head. 

Que Dieu vous Benisse!

Elder Johnson

LETS GO TO THE BEACH ;)

So! I'm just emailing to say that there won't be a huge letter this week! But I will explain a little about the trip and what is going to go on there.

So! Our voyage to Nice starts on Sunday, actually. First, we will go to Bordeaux and spend the night there with other missionaries so we can catch the bus, which leaves the next morning at 8.30 AM. 

Apparently, the bus is supposed to take 13 hours but I looked on the maps on the church website and it should only take 8ish... but who knows. Buses are really slow. It is also a law in France that buses have to stop every 2 hours for fifteen minutes--which will be really nice because otherwise I might die.

On the bus ride there, I plan on trying to read the whole Book of Mormon :) We will see if I can do it-- if not I have the ride back too. 

So We get to Nice around 8.30 PM on Monday and go straight to the hotel and our rooms. 

The next morning we wake up and go to the conference center and wait for Elder Anderson! :) haha I'm pretty darn excited. President has promised us, that if we prepare well enough--and that we follow the rules that he has set in place exactly, this conference will change our lives. 

It will not just be another conference. It will be something that will change our hearts, our missions, and our lives. 

I love you all lots! 

Avec amour,

Elder Johnson

PS- CRAZY PERSON OF THE WEEK 

(Because I can't not tell you a crazy person.)

So, Elder Sanchez and I are walking to the chapel when we pass this woman who is sitting on the steps that go up into an apartment building. We see her there often and usually say hi and each time she is like "What?! You guys again?!" Even though it has been several days since the last time we saw her... but anyway! 

We stop and talk to her and ask how she is doing and she says "OH! You're the Jehovah's Witnesses!" And we say, nooooo we are actually completely different and whatever..

Then she says "Oh, well that's good. I made a promise with the devil." “Oh, really? What did you promise him?”. "I can't say but I get to live longer now."

Voila! Crazy person of the week

Love you!

POWER PONIES AND THE GOSPEL

Wow! I don't know why, but seriously every time that I start to write home I can't believe that it has already been a week! Time flies when you're having fun! 

SEARCHING FOR LESS ACTIVE FAMILIES

This week, we really have made an effort to find less active families. It is hard to do when you are serving in a small town and you have to bike a ways but that's all right. 

So our first attempt to find a family was made on Monday. All we had on the ward (congregation) directory was the name of a road. So, we find the road on the map and are off! We look on all of the mailboxes on the road but we couldn't find their name anywhere. So, I was a little disappointed because a member had told us how awesome this family was BUT then we found a herd of ponies and it made me feel a lot better. Ha ha ha. I didn't realize how much I missed horses until I saw all of these pitiful excuses for horses. But, in any case, I was happy. 

The next day we decided to go look for another family that lives in La Force (really small ville outside of Bergerac). So we take our bikes and start off. On the map, it really didn't look that far but after biking for about 35 minutes we realized it was farther than we anticipated. We decided that we already devoted that much time to find these families that we might as well go all the way there when we come to this HUGE hill. For those of you that live in Jasper, it is like the hill going up Mount Sherman, although it was super steep, it wasn't nearly as long. Although, it was probably a good 800 meters. Gah, I peddled for as long as a could, but then gave up and started walking my bike. haha 

But! We finally made it to La Force, found the first address and the member didn't live there anymore. So we pull the Branch directory out and realize that there is only one member family supposed to be here in La Force. I just started laughing because the situation was kind of ridiculous. We had ridden our bikes for like 45 minutes up this HUGE hill and there was one person that wasn't even there! But! Ca va. C'est la vie! haha 

Moments like that are when you just have to laugh and keep going!

AIDER LES AUTRES

We did a lot of service this week, as usual! We first helped a woman in our ward destroy a tree in her front yard. We showed up and she told us to get rid of the tree right in front of her house. We asked her if she had any tools and she had a pair of clippers and this saw thing. Haha. So we cut all of the branches away and then just started grabbing onto to the tree and pulling as hard as we could. The end result isn't very pretty but she was happy! 

We also helped a member with her iPad this week...ha ha. She needed to move all of her pictures to her computer so she had space to take MORE pictures for her trip to Algeria. Unfortunately she didn't have the right cable so we had to do it via email. It was all right though, she only had 1,408 pictures and you can only send five at a time. HA. When I was called to France I never imagined I would be helping people in this manner. Ha ha ha Too funny.

We also helped a member move this week! He is super cool. He is from Spain but he speaks English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. It was nice to help him out because we got to see other parts of our sector that we can't see without a car. This area of France is BEAUTIFUL. I will have to send some photos. 

Probably the funniest thing this week we did was read scriptures with a member named Soeur Poissonier. She is older and had only been a member for about three years. Each time we go over to read scriptures with her, we ask her where she is in her reading and she randomly opens the Book of Mormon and says "Verse... blah blah blah." She also swears when she can't say the words right. It makes me laugh so hard. 

WHY DO FARTS MAKE ME LAUGH?

So…if you think that after I come home that I won't think farts are funny, think again. Ha ha ha. We visited a member this week who "babysits" old people. I'm not sure how else to put it. So anyway, we are having the rendezvous and we just got done saying the closing prayer and are eating when the man that she is watching comes in and asks where the bathroom is. She says it is down the hall or whatever. We continue to talk and the man walks down the hall but I don't hear a door open or close---but I did hear quite a sound. Honestly, this man is farting so loud from the bathroom that I know that everyone heard it and just chose to ignore it but I can't do that. I wasn't raised that way... I start laughing uncontrollably and start pretending to be looking in my planner for something until I can compose myself. 

And I just realized this is the second week in a row that I am writing about farts. So maybe I will stop. Ha ha!

PREPARING FOR ELDER ANDERSON

President Roney had invited us to really prepare for Elder Anderson so that we can have miracles and be spiritually prepared for his visit and message. In preparation, I have read almost all of his talks that he has given in General Conference and I thought that I would share a few things that really stuck out to me. 

There are two major themes I have found in reading his talks. One is "Faith vs. Logic" and the other is "Trials are for our benefit" It has been a really interesting week of studies doing this. He has become one of my favorite apostles! A quote that really stuck with me from one of his talks was:

"Like the intense fire that transforms iron into steel, as we remain faithful during the fiery trial of our faith, we are spiritually refined and strengthened." 

I have found this to be very true. I look at the trials that I experienced before my mission and because I was able to endure them with faith, they refined me in a way that has benefited me on my mission and will continue to help me throughout my life. God trusts and loves us so much, that He gives us trials that pushes us to our absolute limits because He knows we will learn principles that will build our faith, strengthen our resolve to follow the Savior, and to obey His will. 

I promise you that if you are patient in your trials of faith, you will receive specific blessings sent specifically for you. 

God loves us and wants us to be happy :)

I love and miss you all!

Que Dieu vous bénisse!