refiner's fire

Ayiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 

Okay the Elder's just walked in and one of them died his hair carrot red...this is why there should never be 4-man elder apartments...yikes. 

This week has been HARD. 

Every single one of our ami's dropped us, except Joycley, but she didn't come to church and we are struggling to know how to help her. Soeur Foster got really sick. AND we had to be quarantined in our apartment AGAIN yesterday because there was another huge fête with free alcohol. I'm living in straight up Babylon. 

I do not know HOW because the powers of hell are combining against everything, but somehow I still feel like all is well. I'm at peace. I'm happy. I know that I am being obedient and loving the guts out of these people even when they don't GET it. I'll never give up on finding and helping these people understand what Christ has done for them, even if nothing comes of it. 

But yeah, there really isn't much exciting news from this week. Sad. I know, but it's really okay. I know weeks like this are just shaping me and helping me become more of what these people need, and what God needs me to be. 

Joycley is doing okay though. She has been letting a lot of doubts come in and it's really sad to see. Seriously pray for her. She knows this is true, she is just really scared of the change that this is going to make in her life. Yeah, it's not easy to be a Mormon and to always have to be standing up for what you believe in, but it's worth it and so many people do it, because it's TRUE. We keep the commandments, follow Jesus Christ, and claim with convincing proof that we have the priesthood authority to organize, baptize, and confirm in Christ's name, it's so sad that the world that we live in cannot just accept that and respect us. 

Alright that's enough soap-boxing for one letter. I hope y'all are all doing great and that everyone is having a wonderful start of the school year!! Especially you KENZ. Get em cougar. 

Love you all SO much. 

Soeur Johns

NBD. David Guetta was dropping outside my apartment last night. 

  

If I wasn't a missionary I would have gone. 

One of our ami's has a guinea pig. Sick nasty. RIP Dorito. 

"Actually I think I'm Mormon"

Y'all's letters this week made me laugh so hard. The man next to me is giving me the stink eye. My goodness I miss you people!!!! 

MCKENZIE ANN. WHAT THE. You're going to college this week. I am going to die. I feel so weird about this fact. Seriously though you are going to love BYU. That place changed me for the better, I know it. 

AUBS. Sophomore in high school. Please stop. You can't keep growing up on me while I'm gone. It's  just not right. 

Liège is beyond words. 

I'm learning about 5000 new things a day here about missionary work, about the Savior, about how to be a better companion, about what I want out of life. Spiritually I haven't been this at peace since the MTC. Soeur Foster and I are just going and going and going. NON-STOP. I really KNOW that you are the happiest when you are working and doing what you're supposed to be doing. And man, am I happy or WHAT? I can't even tell you. This kind of inner peace is priceless people. Seek it. 

This week was really crazy because we had to spend all day on Tuesday in Brussels for my legality and then Thursday we had a branch picnic and after we were quarantined in our apartment because there was a huge Fête in Liège where they just give out free alcohol to everyone (welcome to Europe). But we still managed to see a butt load of MIRACLES. 

Joycley is our star player right now. She is SO awesome. We were at church this Sunday and someone came up to her and asked her what religion she was and she replied, "Well, I actually think I'm Mormon." Hahah. Smiled from ear to ear. I challenged her to start the Book of Mormon from the beginning and she is in 1 Néphi Chapter 4 as of yesterday. She calls us at least twice a day to ask questions about the story line. It's amazing to watch her testimony grow. She is always taken aback by the new information we teach her, but after she prays she knows it is true. We had dinner at a members house last Friday and taught the Plan of Salvation. Coolest experience of my life. Mom, dad, get those missionaries over to our house to teach. I know that lesson blessed the families lives as much as it blessed Joyce. Ah, love that lady so much. She is such a solid investigator and I know that when she gets baptized she will be in this for life. 

We are still teaching all of the other people from last week but I KNOW that you forgot all about them, so I'm not going to bore you with updates. Just know that they are all doing GREAT, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, and I love them. 

We did have a really cool miracle this week. We met this lady on the street and she told us that she had had a friend who was Mormon, but he moved to the states. Right before he moved though he had given her a Book of Mormon. We asked her if we could come over and explain the book to her and why we have it and she said YES. Thank you Mr.X.

Yeah, I love this place and my comp. Soeur Foster is an inspiring human being. We work so well together, teach so well together, and we are learning so much about ourselves together. We are both super independent, so we have really had to work to have unity. We've both had to get better at communicating and not assuming what the other person is thinking. We have had to LET each other serve each other, which is like pulling teeth for both of us because we both would rather just mind our own. I really have a testimony that when two people grow closer in their relationship with God, they grow closer in their relationship to each other. The Lord was so beyond inspired to put us together. These are the kinds of lessons I know we will both be using for the rest of our lives. 

Y'all all is well. I love each and everyone of you beyond words. 

Paix and bénédictions, 

Soeur Johns 

 

This place is going to make me fat and happy.

Let's just start by talking about how I am MADE for a big city like this. There are so many people to talk to and so many things to balance and I just love it. I know we will never ever run out of things to do. I attached a picture of our view from the apartment  We live all the way up on the 10th floor and it is beautiful. (see picture) 

So fun fact. We are actually over two branches. Liège 1 and Liège 2. They meet in the same building which was actually built on what was supposed to be the site for the Liège temple, so it is HUGE. Our building is THREE stories and the sacrament meeting room has PEWS! We even have a stage and an institute room and a huge field out back for fun and games. Such a blessing. Soeur Foster and I had talks yesterday in Liège 2, yeah welcome to town, right? They went really well and the Belge can understand my accent wayyy better than the French. Bonus. 

Why aren't the branches just made into one big ward?? Well that is the question of the century, I guess. Some sort of big drama went down a couple of years back and there was so much contention that they had to split the branches. The members of each one really do not associate with each other. Also, we have about 50-60 members in each one, but our ward lists are about 400 people long each. The drama that happened caused A LOT of people to leave the church. It really is SO sad. That is something that has been a really stark contrast between here in Liège and Vannes. The members here have a bit of a different feel. There is a LOT of divorce here and a lot of back-story  BUT I can't help but love them still. The Belge are SO nice. I just want to bless their lives and help them mend all of this. Big task at hand. 

It's super weird going to 2 sacrament meetings, 2 DMB meetings, and all of that, but I think it will be really fun. 

Right now we have 4 amis period, which is a little bit different from the 18 we had in Vannes. BUT these ami's here are REALLY progressing. Soeur Foster is very much "if they are not progressing we drop them and find new people to teach". I think that is just how you have to be in big cities like this because there are SO many people who we could be seeing, but so little time to see them. We will see. :) 

But yes our ami's are awesome. Joyce is a lady from England who speaks perfect English. She is really progressing in her testimony. She has been baptized a lot in her life, so she is taking it slow because she wants this to be the last time. Patricia is a friend of one of the members who has been coming to church for the past 6 weeks. We will be teaching her at a members house tonight. Annie is a lady Soeur Foster and Wade met on the day before I got here. We taught her the first lesson on Friday and it went really really well. She is protestant, but interested in learning more. And we teach the cutest Italian couple who is friends with a member. 

I have no doubt we will find more people to teach. It's actually really funny. We met 3 people in the same day who all told us they would meet with us on September 3rd. So randomly that day is ALL booked up already. Hahaha. God has a sense of humor, I know it. 

Soeur Foster. This girl. She's the coolest. The question is really WHAT HASN'T SHE DONE. She is a certified sky-diver and has jumped 56 times, certified yoga instructor, extreme rock-climber, snowboarder, wake boarder, plans on joining the peace core after this,  wants to be a cop and work for the FBI, and more that I am sure I am forgetting or don't know about yet. Oh and she is the hipster twin of Blake Lively. and a KILLA missionary. Let's be honest, all of this took a couple of hits at my pride for the first couple of days. I really didn't know how to take her because everything I've ever accomplished in my life she has done, but like a 10920 times cooler version of it. Hahah. But honestly I got over it really quick and we are starting to become great friends. I'm just going to have to get used to living in the perpetual state of inadequacy for the next 6 weeks. Hey that's life right? I just need to get over myself. Maybe that is the lesson I am supposed to learn here. Haha. We work really well as missionaries together and we like all of the same music and hippie food and she has insomnia, so we get to work out for an hour in the mornings instead of 30 minutes because it helps her be more exhausted. We'll be a good team. Liège is about to be on fire. 

Speaking of things on fire. My blow dryer blew-up yesterday. Literally looked down the tube and there were blue flames. So i'm going Simba all-natural for the next little bit. All is well. 

What else is there to say?? Oh.The FOOD HERE is SO GOOD. Seriously. I am in LOVE with everything I have put in my mouth so far. And since we are over 2 branches we get fed a LOT. I've already eaten frites twice. Yep. They are the best in the world. I can totally second that. Also, our DMB in Liège 2 is remodeling his house so we get to go out there and do service for him every Saturday morning. I dry walled this week. NBD.

I'm sure there are a million things I am forgetting because this week has been so overwhelming and new. Just know that I am happy. I am healthy. And I have a LOT of work to do here. Pray for us, k? 

I love you all so much. Big shout out to KENZ. Je t'aime ma Soeur. You will do great at BYU. Wish I was there to see it. 

Avec tout mon coeur,  

Soeur Johns 

View from our 10th floor apartment!

hey, guess what...

IM GOING TO BELGIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Liège, to be exact.

 

It's a BIG French-speaking city over by Germany and the Netherlands.

 

So BIG that there are 3 EQUIPES! (2 Elders & 1 Sœurs)  

 

I'M SO EXCITED!

Big city. Big city. Big city. Big city. BIIIIGGGG CITTTYYYYY.

 

Weird that I'm leaving France, right??

 

My new companion is Sœur Foster! I don't know much about her, all I know is she has some pretty dang big shoes to fill after Sœur Garrett. We are in mourning.

 

Vannes is still on fire. We ended this week with a bang.

 

En bref:

 

Adele is progressing A TON. She's a Miracle. We took her over to Felicia's house this week where Joy did her tresses. Now the three of them are best friends and were hanging out today!!! WITHOUT US!!!! Joy and Adele are going to get baptized this next transfer. I have ZERO doubts.

 

Saying goodbyes were so hard, but I don't know. I just feel SO much peace about all of this. It just feels right. And I know all of the people that need to stay in my life will stay in my life because I'll make sure of it. We've already got about 12 different places to stay here when y'all come pick me up. This branch will be in my heart forevs.

 

Ahhh. I really don't even know what else to say. I'll just give you a bunch of pictures to make up for how short and lame this is, deal?

 

I LOVE y'all all so very much!! :)

 

with LOVE,

Sœur Johns

A L'AISE BREIZH. I have so much Bretagne pride by now.

just such a cute place.

last promenade around centre ville

                

Madame Gallois! LOVE her!!!

Michelle et moi! LOVE her. 

 

SOEUR GARRETT!!! LOVEEEEE herrrrrr.

Adele gettin her hair did by Joy.

 

District picture.

Out with a bang?

My FAVORITE feeling as a missionary is to realize why you were inspired to do something. And this week has been FULL of those moments. 

So remember Ludo? The man who got baptized a couple of weeks ago. Remember his wife? Well we've been teaching her and we honestly weren't even sure if it was going anywhere. She is really hard to read and has said about a million and a half times that she doesn't need to get baptized. Wellllllll...this last week we went over and taught her the Plan of Salvation. At the end she looked at us and asked, "Soeurs, why is my heart on fire every time you come over here?" Wait excuse me what did you just say?. Speechless. We explained the Spiritand how it testifies of truth, and she knew that's what she was feelin. We explained that she could always have that feeling with her with the gift of the Spirit after she was baptized and asked her to pray and ask God if that was something she needed to do. We're going over there today right after this to see what happened!!!! I just KNOW that she will get baptized and be a STRONG member of the church for the rest of her life. I feel it. This Gospel has already blessed this family more than words can describe. 

Ready for the next miracle...

SO picture Soeur Garrett and I in a room of 4 huge Africans screaming about the Bible in Pigeon English. Meet Donald. He's an African from Cameroon who looooovveeeesssss the bible and knows it pretty well. Eric, (one of the recent converts) introduced him to the church and he set a baptismal date (supposed to be last Saturday). But lately he is having a hard time accepting the Book Of Mormon because he had "never heard in his 30 years of life that Jesus Christ appeared in America". Last week Soeur Garrett and I went over to Felicia's house to commit Joy, Eric's wife to get baptized, and Donald was there. You still with me? Well once we get there Donald starts telling us all about His doubts about the Book of Mormon. Felicia, Eric and Joy who all have really STRONG testimonies of the BOM start screaming about it and bible bashing hardcore. Soeur Garrett literally had to stand up and call them to order. Hahah. Then we both bore really simple testimonies of how we had prayed and knew that the BOM is true and that it goes along with the Bible. It was crazy how the Spirit in the room changed. Donald agreed to pray about it and come to church the next day, and Joy committed to baptism! Donald came to church and ended up having another huge problem with how the gift of the spirit isn't automatically given to everyone on earth who has faith. Luckily...Miraculously...I have felt really inspired to read the New Testament lately and was able to show him a couple of scriptures that talked about the Spirit being given after baptism by the laying on of hands. He took it really well and just kept saying "Sister I tank you". He will be getting baptized really soon. 

Okayyyyy one more...

Last night we went over to the Mbey's house and taught the Plan of Salvation and Masc committed to baptism. Their family has still never been to church, but I could see the countenance of Frère Mbey change as he heard his son express his desires to be washed clean. We basically begged him to bring Masc to church and he agreed. 

From opening with no Area Book to a full agenda and 4 baptisms, the Lord has USED us here in Vannes. 

OKAY HERE IS THE PROBLEM

Transfers are coming up next Wednesday and it might be my time. And by might I mean I'm pretty positive I'm outta here. Half of me is SO SOOOOO ready to leave because Vannes is feeling a little too much like home and it's getting harder and harder to contact. The other half could literally spend the rest of my mission with these ami's. Words really cannot express how much I love them. This week has been a really funny lesson for me on timing. I have no doubt in my mind that the next missionary who comes into this ville will see 4 baptisms in the first couple of weeks that she is here. I've been trying really hard not to think "why couldn't these people just have been prepared just a LITTLE bit earlier so that I could see them through to the end?" It kind of breaks my heart. I'm coming to terms with being the missionary who found and taught them, and that someone else will be the missionary who gets to see them into the water, but man I just want to be here for it so BAD! Obviously there is a lesson that I needed to learn through this, I'll let you know when I figure it out. :) 

Anyways, I love you all SO much! Emily I cannot BELIEVE you leave so soon. Keep an eye on your mailbox, mmkay? Jenna I cannot believe that you are learning SPANISH now. You are in my prayers every single time. Ask my comp. Hahah. Newport sounded like a blast and it was so fun to see all of the videos of everyone. #classicJS...& Happy birthday DAVE, you old man!!!! That cake was too good to be true. GDYUP. hahahah. But seriously y'all outdid yourselves. & I cannot believe FATHEAD is home from his mission. That blew my mind. And that everyone and their MOM are getting married or pregnant! EVERYONE PLEASE PAUSE YOUR LIVES. k thanks. 

Love you all toooooooo much. 

BISOUS! 

Soeur Johns 

P.S. As I was looking out the window on the train yesterday going to Rennes, I had the craziest realization that I'm beginning to not feel like so much of a stranger anymore in France. It felt completely familiar to be sitting on a train riding across the country side. Who am I? 

 this mangy animal would NOT move out of the road

the mission has done great things for me right?

taking matters into my own hands

 the carrots in Rennes. 

 I'm gunna miss this. 

One day we were just DONE, so we rode the tourist train...save your judgments. Ride of my life. 

if you EVER want a good laugh give a room of French children warheads. (We taught the young-men/young-women on Sunday) 

how COOL is this? Soeur Berthelin in our ward was baptized by Mitt Romney!!!!! I heard about this and naturally called her and made her bring all of her letters to church. And you know what, Mitt's French really wasn't that great either. But I do have a lot of respect for how well he keeps up with his converts! 

I am NOT a vulture salesman.

RANDOM ADVENTURES of the week: 

-my musical adventures continued...I'm now in a band. I play the togo (african drum). No big deal. 

-a TEMPEST TSUNAMI hit Vannes out of nowhere. It looked like we jumped in a swimming pool. We ended up knocking a door and a man gave us Kleenexes to dry ourselves off. Thanks, that did A LOT. 

MIRACLES of the week: 

-Monday night we were walking home and we said hi to a man who was working on his car on the side of the road. He called us to come back and asked us who we were. Once we told him we were the Mormons he got SOOOOO excited and told us that he has tried every religion in the world EXCEPT Mormonism, but that he heard about us on TV and wanted to know more, but didn't know where to look. So obviously we gave him a Book of Mormon and he kissed it and raised it in the sky and was like, 'Praiiisseeee theeee Loorrrdddddd". Hahah. Pray for Vincent and Family. We're going back to teach him tonight. 

-Ludo's 12 year old daughter came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

REALIZATION of the week: 

Last night we went over to Kate & Alex's house (Mom and daughter who live on our street) and we had a really interesting life chat. They really opened my eye's as to how Mormon missionaries are seen here in France.  

Here are a couple of things they said that struck me: 

"I think you girls have such a hard time because of the Temoigne Jehovah's. The Temoigne Jehovah's always come up to our doorstep and they act so seriously and try to shove their religion down your throat, and then if you've listened to them one time they just come back again and again and again no matter how many times you have told them no." 

"You girls are different because you smile. You laugh. You look like friends. When I said HI to you, you didn't immediately start talking about God and Religion." 

"The boy missionaries here in Vannes hate each other don't they? We always see them around town and the skinny white one is always walking wayyyyyy further ahead of the other." 

To name a few. 

It's just really eye opening because I didn't realize how much people are WATCHING us. It makes me want to act so much more like myself, and so much less like the "stereotypical perfect missionary"

Is that bad?  

But really...I don't think there are going to be very many people joining this church if we walk around scaring people because they see us literally RUNNING down people to "deliver our message". Like VULTURE SALESMEN. 

Every one of us on earth is different. Why in the world are we trying to make the same approach to every person we see? "Hi, my name is Soeur Johns I came from the United States because I have a message that will bless you and your family" (and that will be $39.99...) 

Ew. I hate that. 

This shouldn't take CONVINCING. It should naturally happen out of LOVE. I want the people I teach to join this church, and to stay in this church because it has really added something to their lives. 

Yup, and that's all I gotta say about that. 

Love you all. SO MUCH. 

Love, 

Soeur Johns 

pillar families

Family & Friends! 

This week has been AWESOME! I LOVE VANNES. The fact that I could get transferred out of here in a couple of weeks makes me SICK. I have grown SO close to these people in the past couple of months. The amis and the members are some of my best friends! I'm living the dream. 

So, the theme of this last week for Soeur Garrett and I has been SUDDEN DEATH. We have been teaching A LOT of people lately. A LOT A LOT. And they all love us and want us to see them ALL the time, but the problem is that a lot of them aren't progressing. And they are taking up too much of our time, so we really haven't had the chance to go out and meet anyone new. So this week we booked Rendez-vous with all of them and basically evaluated who we should keep teaching and who we should drop. It was SOOO SOOO hard to drop the people that I love so much, but honestly we should have done this a looonnnnnnggggg time ago. 

I have just been feeling lately that we need to find and teach more families. Because families become the pillars of this church. And we need pillars here in Europe, we need em bad. 

Finding families is hard work, but we've already seen miracle after miracle of people who the Lord is preparing. And we've already had 5 families placed in our path who we've set appointments with to start teaching this week:

One lives on our street. Their daughter went on a study abroad in Canada and speaks English fluently, her mom heard us speaking English on the street and got so excited that she came up and started talking to us. She invited us to come over anytime! Then -crazy coincidence-  we had exchanges and Soeur Garrett was in Nantes and ran into them again over there in the SAME day. They practically tackled her. They are so cute. 

Another family is one of the one's we found in our miracle day of porting last week. It's a young mom and dad with two daughters. 

Another is a Tahitian family that has member friends. We finally got a chance to teach them on Saturday and it went really well and they came to church the next day and really liked it. They've met with the missionaries since 2007. 

ANOTHER is an Albanian family we met on the bus. They moved here to France 8 months ago and are having such a hard time learning the language. They can't find a French-Albanian dictionary anywhere, so we found them a Albanian Book of Mormon and are going over tonight to drop it off. 

And last but not least, a young mom who was Soeur Roney and I's 8:45 miracle. We met her walking with her two kids in our neighborhood and she agreed to let us teach her this week :) 8:45 miracles are SO real.

Amazing huh? Please keep praying for us to find families. 5 is a GREAT start, but I know that there are more who are being prepared for us. 

Another highlight of my week was my exchange with Soeur Roney. Soeur Roney is the definition of a consecrated missionary. She has 2 transfers left and is absolutely inspiring in every way. She has really figured out how to get through to these French people. I can see that she has been blessed by her consistent obedience to mission rules. Ah, I just think the WORLD of her. I was just thinking the entire time I was with her, "Now that's the kind of missionary I want to be". 

Y'all I love this. Everyday is beautiful. My heart is here. 

Avec amour, 

Soeur Johns 

Just a picture of BEAUTIFUL Angers! 

Soeur Judd and I in Angers for transfers! The last PATISSERIE I ate. I'm on a fast. Don't want to talk about it. 

LUDO'S BAPTISM. Happy day. 

The Gentry family. Literally the funniest people I know. Think British modern family. 

Paula loves 'murica

Oh and so does Paul. Her brother. Great names right.

to sum up my mission in one picture...