When they say Paris France is a hard mission, THEY MEAN IT :)

Chère famille et amis,  

first off, IT WAS SO GOOD to see your faces yesterday!!! made my life. everyone looked so good....even dad. hahah. 

Hanging up was so hard. I didn't want to do it and after we just sat there and both cried for a minute but then we walked out and Soeur Bouaka had made us crepes and chocolate cake and I just kindof forgot to be sad. fk. 

I seriously can't believe that Aubs is driving and that she already got pulled over. hahaha. I am so proud and SO scared that she is following right in my footsteps. :)

Ahh and Kenzie you are already so good at guitar that was amazing I wish I could have heard more, I can't get over it. BYU better watch out. 

Mom you looked so good and I actually beat myself up because I'm pretty sure I completely forgot to wish you a Happy Mother's Day. I'm the worst. I hope you know how much I love you and wouldn't pick another person in the world to be my mom! :) & you looked way too good as well. must be all of that boxing. 

Dad, Soeur grewar and I were laughing so hard on the way home at how much you have stalked us and our ville. You knew everything there is to know about Vannes. Too good. & thanks for all the great advice you KNOW how bad I need it.

For the rest of you wonderful people who didn't get to see my face yesterday i'll give you a petit update on this week: 

I learned lesson #20932034243 this week. I think it will be one that I will learn time and time again: When you have a bad week where it seems like NOTHING is going your way you should get really excited, happy, and grateful because you can know with certainty that a miracle is on the way. 

Oh my goodness did that happen or what. 

This week was awful. Every person we tried to see cancelled, no one called us back, Madame Pierre dropped us like its hot, and everyone who we went looking for wasn't home. It was just door after door after door of "Ça me n'intereste pas", and I couldn't take it. I felt like I had been straight up abandoned and that I was the worst missionary in the world. Literally, I'm not exaggerating it got to the point on Friday I was just laughing at how bad it was we had gotten 1 cordonne for the WEEK. I felt like every person who we knew in the ville had just up and moved or something and I'm not going to lie I wanted to do the same. 

We had one Rendez-vous scheduled for the week on saturday with a less active family who lives about 45 minutes out of our ville. So we drive (oh yeah we have a car now, score) over to their house and knock on the door and guess what. NO ONE ANSWERS. 

But then we figure out we accidentally went to their neighbors house and then we found their house and they let us in. 

Hello beautiful family of 7 children who all aren't baptized and are all way too happy than usual to see us. 

We start talking to the dad and ask him why he's not coming to church and stuff like that and it turns out that he's a cardiovascular surgeon who is always on call. He told us that he wished that he could come to church, but that the chapel was too far away and that if he went and got called in he would be putting lives on the line. He shared his conversion story and how he knows that the church has given him everything and that he wishes he could go to church. Sticky stuff. 

Then we told him we wanted to share a message with his family and he called everyone over and made them sit down in the living room and asked one of his daughters to say the prayer. Then we pass out Livre de Mormon's to the whole family and give them pencils to mark things while we read. 

PAUSE, this is not a NORMAL lesson already. In France normal is sitting at some old ladies table as she spills her life story and tells you why she doesn't believe in God and then allows you to pray with her. 

Anyways, then we start reading Alma 32 about how faith is a little seed (we actually hijacked a lesson that Sister Woomer gave to the YW when I was like 15 where she brought seeds and showed us how tiny our faith needs to be to let Heavenly Father start to grow it. So thanks for being awesome Sher-bear!) All of the kids were totally engaged and marking and asking questions. There was a point in the beginning of the lesson where I tangibly felt the Spirit enter the room. It was unmistakable, as real as if another person actually walked in to join us. I knew that everyone else was feeling it to and I just wanted to cry I was so happy. At the end we asked all of the kids if they would continue to read their scriptures every night and start to grow their faith in Jesus Christ and they all said they would! Frère Mmbay LOVED IT and invited us to come back later in the week and teach them again. We told them that next time we were going to talk about what we do after we develop faith in Jesus Christ aka be baptized. :) Then we all knelt down and closed with a prayer. 

I'm not kidding I felt like I was filming The District. 

That lesson was worth every single trial we had gone through before and every single trial I can now expect to go through this week because it was just TOO GOOD. I love being a missionary! I don't feel like I'm a good one yet at all, but practice makes perfect right? 

Ahh soo good. Pray for this family! We are going to see them get baptized I just KNOW it. 

Welp I'm all out of time as usual. Love you all SO MUCH:) 

Soeur Johns 

Paris. Vannes. Rennes. Nantes.

Bonjour!

 

This week.

 

Let me break it down for ya.

 

Monday: P-day in Paris.

Tuesday: Legality in Paris and the reunion of all reunions with Soeur Judd.

Wednesday: May Day. Everything was shut down because it's France where literally every other day is a public holiday so we just contacted people at the port the whole day & then had a mangez-vous with my Tahitian less active soul sister who I love and has the most adorable children.

Thursday: District meeting and EXCHANGES with Soeur Miller...qui veins de TEXAS. more on that in a moment.

Friday: Exchanges and train ride back to Nantes to pick up Soeur Grewar & then work

Saturday: Weekly planning & work

Sunday: Church & work

 

So needless to say we didn't get as much done last week as we would have liked. But regardless of all this. Vannes is COOKIN. Soeur Grewar and I are quite the team. I love my little Aussie so much. She is teaching me heaps.

 

Side note: We found Veggiemite at an African market. I can't say I hated it.

 

Okay soooo....

 

Yesterday we walk into the Chapel and a member walks up to us and asks us if we can come over to FHE at her house next week because her best friend is interested in the church and wants to meet us. "Oh sorry, no we are way to busy porting and running people down on the street, maybe next time." NOT. I actually teared up. Our branch is too good to us.

 

THEN our District President pulls me to the side and tells me that he's been waiting for missionaries like us and gives us like 7 contacts and tells us that he wants to have a big missionary party thing and invite all his friends. He also gave us a huge package to go take over to his less active daughter so that she was forced to meet us. Then today he invited us to go to the District activity with him and his family next week.

 

THEN THEN THEN. Cherry on top. WE FIND OUT THAT A NON-MEMBER 14 YEAR OLD GIRL HAS BEEN COMING TO CHURCH THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE HERE. I thought she was a member. Basically her Dad joined the church about 7 months ago with her 17 year old sister. The mom was investigating too and I actually don't know if she ever stopped or if it was just because we got transfered in. (Vannes was not the most organized area in the world when we got here) Anyways, we are eating dinner and teaching the family on thursday. PRAY FOR US.

 

Other than that Madame Pierre is progressing. Okay to be absolutely honest this lady is kooky as kooky gets, but she is also golden as golden gets. I love her so much. We went and visited her on Wednesday and it turns out that she has read all the way through 2nd Nephi in the BOM. She was talking all about the Nephites and the Lamanites and it was blowing my mind. She really wants to come to church but she doesn't have a car and said she wouldn't be comfortable going with a stranger. So next lesson we are bringing a member, bien sûr. Here are just a few of the other phrases that came out of her mouth that literally made my jaw drop: "you two are just like angels" "I'm an insomniac but ever since I read the BOM I have slept for 7 hours a night" "I want to come to church" "I feel like I've always known you girls". I'm literally sitting there smiling so big. Here's the catch with her though. She talks and talks and talks and talks. And we try so hard to teach her, but she doesn't really listen to us for more than like 10 seconds. So what we do say to her is super bold, but it's really tricky to actually teach her anything. We are praying to figure her out. She also gave us the names and numbers of all of her children so we are going to go visit them this week and see if they can help.  

 

But yeah. The Church is true.

Okay so exchanges were SO SO fun. Soeur Miller was great and we drank DDP and ate Mac and Cheese and talked about how much we loved Chicken Express and Sonic. But the best part....

 

So we go over to visit Winona our less active with the boyfriend. (She is SO 16 it kills me) We get there and Winona is back in her room so we are talking in the kitchen with her mom. All of the sudden I look over at their little yorkie dog and watch it HIKE ITS LEG and pee all over Soeur Millers foot. Her. Face. PRICELESS. Soeur Le Divenach saw the pee, but didn't realize that it had actually peed all down Soeur Millers leg.  It was one of those moments where you can't laugh because poor Soeur Le Divenach already felt so awkward that her dog just peed on the floor. But I almost DIED trying to hold it in. When she ran to the other room to get a mop I literally laughed so hard I almost peed on the floor. That visual will stay in my head for the rest of my life. Soeur Millers face. Hahaha. Im laughing so hard writing this just thinking about it.

 

#missions

 

Oh by the way. I can kind of sort of speak French, so that's weird.

 

Alright times up. Love you all. Thank you for the letters and packages and constant support. Y'all keep me movin:)

 

Je vous aime!

    Soeur Johns

tower d'eiffel

sup Eiffel Tower

Soeur Grewar and Moi

jumping for joy!

The Arc

Notre Dame

Just two little Texans noming on some DP and Mac and Cheese

We are clearly not from around here

My face after eating Vegemite

 

 

PARIS or bust

MA FAMILLE!!!!!

Okay. This letter is going to be very short right here right now because:

A) I'm typing on a French keyboard and it takes me a million tries to write one word

B) I'm in PARIS. I have to do my legality for France tomorrow and since Vannes is so far away they let us come sleep in Paris for the night and do P-DAY here. So as much as I would love to stay and chat...I can see Notre Dame and it is calling my name.

So this week my mission and I had a DTR and...

I'm really starting to love it.

SOOO much happened this week. SOOO much progress.

Basically we followed up on Glustaime and had lunch with her! (I swear our ami's and inactive's cook for us more than the members) She has had a really hard life and suffers from depression, but she told us that everytime she is with us she feels hope and she feels happy. && She loves the Book of Mormon!! We are going to try to get her to come to church with us this Sunday!

We also found another person to teach. We both forgot his name...so we call him the shed man. I don't really know the whole story, but he used to live in a house and then he moved to an apartment so every day he runs this little antique shop of all the stuff that won't fit into his apartment. Kinda weird, but whatevs. We went in there one day and started talking to him and he told us that he thought that all of the religions were true so there was no point in joining one. Music to my ears. Then we testified of the Restoration and gave him a BOM. He was really interested and said he would read it. It was the first time I really had the opportunity to testify my heart out and it was amazing.

Other than that we have a couple of really solid potential families & we have been doing a lot of less-active work and two of them came to church on Sunday. One is a 16 year old girl who found herself a non-member boyfriend and now she doesn't want anything to do with the church. So we took her out for Crepes for her birthday and talked about life and she really opened up to us and it was so amazing. Love her.

Okay. Time is up!! Sorry! I promise I will write more juicy details next week!

KENZIE you looked beautiful at PROM and I love the hair!

à beintôt:

SOEUR JOHNS 

My mission advice to any girl who is thinking about serving

Kenzie, Emily and any other girl who is thinking about serving…

Missions are hard. Really hard! Nearly unbearably hard. The MTC, not hard. The MTC was awesome every second. The mission has awesome moments, don’t get me wrong, but it also has moments where you are in the lowest low you have ever felt. Moments where all you want to do is crawl back into Mom and Dad’s bed and never ever grow up and never leave their side again.

That being said, I know that this is where God wants me. That is my first piece of advice for you. Find out clearly if this is what God wants for your life. That takes a strong measure of spiritual preparation. Study how to receive revelation and follow each principle with EXACT obedience. A good place to start would be Richard G. Scott’s talk, “How to Receive Revelation Through the Scriptures” and prayer in the Bible dictionary. You are going to need to work hard for clear and crisp revelation.

You are going to need to give yourself to much fasting and prayer and study and TIME. It’s a process, not meant to happen all at once. My process took a solid 8 months and it was not easy, and I gave up a wonderful boy to be here.

The second thing you must do is rid your thoughts of absolutely every fantasy you have about what a mission is.

I’ll tell you what a mission is: It’s work. Mental, physical and spiritual work.

You don’t have You time. You don’t have the privilege of saying, “I’m tired, my feet and all my muscles kill I’m just going to lay down.” You don’t have the privilege of using a cell phone when you actually really need it (we have an old one for our team, but can only call/text no Google maps) You don’t have the privilege of sightseeing. You are on a mission to work. To follow the rules even if you don’t understand why. To live and be around another human 100% of the time (and I’ve had good humans to be around) You are here to talk to people who don’t think you are precious. You are here to do things and say things that you wouldn’t necessarily want a stranger to do and say to you.

But, if you come here with a TESTIMONY and the desire to work and especially with a knowledge that the Lord wants you where you are then you will be given the strength to endure the hard times and appreciate the good times.

A testimony is really the key. Build your testimony in the simple doctrinal truths. Know that the Book of Mormon is true. Know that God loves you. Know that families can be together forever. Know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Know that the Savior atoned for the sins of the world. Know that we have and had a prophet. Know that the Priesthood is real. Know that the church is true, every auxiliary. Know that the temple is the house of God and the work that is done there is real. And know that this gospel is not only true for you, but for everyone else as well.

It is crucial that you understand that a mission is not synonymous with a fun and exciting adventure. It is NOT a study abroad. It is NOT a good way to learn another culture or another language. It is NOT a good way to pass the time while your boyfriend is on a mission. It is NOT a good way to run away from problems at home. IT is NOT even a good way to become a better person. A mission is work. It is soul-stretching, physically exhausting and mentally draining work.

BUT, IT IS THE LORD’S WORK. It is teaching me so much. I have never been so converted to this gospel in my life and I have never been closer to our Heavenly Father. I’ve already seen miracles. I genuinely am developing characteristics of charity, faith and diligence that I don’t think would be possible to develop any other way for me personally. I am blessed and see the hand of the Lord daily. I am slowly but surely learning how to feel the spirit to guide me to people who are prepared for this message. I have never known my scriptures better. I have never loved my family and desired to live with them forever more. I’ve never felt more love for strangers. I’ve never come to a better knowledge that every other person on this earth is loved the same by God as his child. I’ve never cried more. I’ve never been so bold. I’ve never stood so starkly for anything. I’ve never lived so simply. I’ve never wanted more people to have the gospel.

If those are the types of things you truly desire in your heart, I can testify that those are the things my mission has done for me already, and I think a mission could be a good path for you.  If you are coming here for another reason, Good Luck.

(Mathew 10:39. ..the only reason you go. You can’t come looking to find yourself.)

Also, you would be wise to prepare better than I did. Take much less thought to your mission wardrobe and spend time preparing to go through the temple, spend time going on splits with the sister missionaries. Spend time knowing your scripture mastery.  If you are trusted (not blessed) enough to learn a language spend time studying that language instead of worrying about eating at your favorite restaurants for the last time. Worry about strengthening your muscles and legs to walk with heavy bags. Just be practical.

What a Week

This week. 

Oh where do I even begin? 

I was trying to think of the words that would best describe this week and all I could come up with is: Character Building. 

Do I have your attention? Hahah 

Tuesday was a day FULL of miracles. We went over to visit an inactive lady in the morning and she wasn't there and so we turned around to get back on the bus and it hit me like fire, "I didn't bring you all the way over to this area for no reason." It was one of those special moments where I knew exactly what I needed to be doing. And it was really special because it was the first time here that I've really felt prompted to go a certain way or talk to a certain person. So we started knocking doors. Not interested, not home, not interested, mad and not interested. Then, these two big Tahitian guys come to the door, we introduce ourselves and they tell us that we can come in! We told them we had to stay outside, but they had a little table and chairs so it worked out just fine. Then we taught them the entire first lesson. It wasn't long, and it wasn't perfect, but the Spirit was so strong and both of the men said that they wanted to change their lives. We gave them the pamphlet (classic), invited them to come to church, AND set up another appointment. That was the first time that had ever happened in Soeur Grewars entire mission. Okay so then next door. It opens and this 18 year old boy is standing there. He says that he is interested, but that he is home alone, so we tell him we can just leave a little message and then come back. He agrees and we start telling him about how families can be together forever. He really likes it and tells us he really wants to know more and wants us to teach his family too. We leave him a pamphlet, invite him to church, AND set up another appointment. Two in a row. Soeur Grewar almost died. 

Sadly, we couldn't find a member to teach the two men with so we had to pass them to the elders, but they are doing SO good. They didn't come to church, but they have been doing their reading and setting up more appointments. I'm so happy!! We went back past Alexandre and his family and they had just decided to take a last minute trip to Paris for the vacance, but they set up an appointment with us for tomorrow! I'm so excited they seem so awesome! 

The rest of Tuesday was really great too! There is a girl in our branch who is leaving on her mission in May and wanted to come out and work with us. She has a car, so she drove us out to a bunch of the people we can't get to on the bus and we set up rendez-vous with a couple of families and this one hilarious lady who tried to convince us that the Sabbath day is on Saturday, but who knows that the Book of Mormon is true. We're working on her. Hahaha.

Okay so Tuesday ended and I was just fired up. Right? Pretty much everything we set up that day actually went through and people let us IN. It was AMAZING.

Then on Wednesday we went to Rennes for Zone Training with President. And I was SOOOO fired up after that. Literally ready to just go out and convert all of France. 

Thursday, starts off with a Rendez-vous at the District President's house, which was awesome and so yummy. They are the greatest people in the world. They lived in Angers and one day he had a dream that he needed to move to Vannes to stregthen the church. So they just up and moved and his life mission now is to turn the District into a Pieu (Stake). Dedication at it's finest. They gave us a couple of names of people to go visit and told us that they have an inactive daughter who lives in Vannes that they want us to go meet. Like music to my ears. After lunch, they drove us over to see the beach and it smelled like heaven and I cried I was so happy. WHO AM I? 

After the beach we ported around their area. Nobody was interested, but this one man was super nice and gave us a bunch of fresh eggs because he had chickens as pets. #winning. 

The rest of the week was really hard because everything kept falling through and noone was interested. This is where "character building" comes into play. After knocking on doors for 6 hours you come to a point where you literally feel like you are pointless. Like you are a horrible missionary. Like you can never say the right thing. Like you don't have enough faith. Like there is no way in the world you are going to be able to do this for 15 more months and stay sane. Like there HAS to be a better way. And then you finally get enough sense to just ask the Lord what your purpose is. And all of the sudden you just feel at peace with yourself and what you are doing. You think about how the disciples were rejected and persecuted and killed (Acts 5:41). & You think about how Christ wasn't accepted by everyone. 

And then you go to church and 3 people tell you that their friends are preparing to be taught. 

And somehow it all just balances and everything is okay. 

Love y'all so much. Pray that we find people to teach who are ready! 

Soeur Kayleigh Johns  

P.S. Reeder family THANK you for the package. I laughed so hard when I saw the Kool Aid and my companion said that she's only seen it in the movies. She is so excited to try it:) Y'all are the greatest! 

The Eggs!!

The beach, the best smell EVER

Gaining speed

Family & Friends,

 

MERCI for the packages! Literally made my day. Dad you are too good. I don't how you made Aunt Jemima pancakes come all the way to France in a matter of hours, but let's just say we are SO grateful for you. I'm just going to soak these packages in while I'm fresh and new and you remember who I am:)

 

This week was truly better. It was still SOOOO hard. Especially on the rainy days, but much less depressing than last week:) I feel a LOT less mental and more like a normal human. Bon.

 

Since we opened the area we had to start from scratch with finding new amis (investigators) and meeting the ward...everything like that. So that means we are off to a slow start, but the work here is building and there are so many people who are ready to hear this. We had two miracle people this week. Listen to this. We are sitting at a bus stop and this lady walks up with an orchid and is kindof struggling with it so we help her out. I start talking to her..."Sorry, I don't speak English"...yeah thanks I was speaking French...then my companion starts conversating. (I've figured out that this is how it works. I have to get my companion into sticky water and then she can't help but talk to the people. She's still really scared about talking to strangers) Anyways, this lady is pure gold. She just chats with my companion about the importance of love, hope, and charity and then gets on the bus and sits right next to her. My companion finally brings up church and the lady says "Can I come?!" What? You just asked if you could come to church with us? I about died. We didn't know what time church was...embarassing, so she gave us her address and phone number and we told her we would call her. This is where the story gets kindof sad. We call her, and her phone bill isn't paid so we can't get through, then we go visit her. She lives in this kindof creepy old building that smells like black licorice and has a blood stain on the floor. (Yeah, I'm hardcore). And anyways, she isn't there. TRISTE aka SAD. But we will find her. Pray for Patricia. She wants the truth. Okay, so I'm thinking in my head after we talk to her on the bus. Wow that probably never happens and will probably never happen again. WRONG. Yesterday we were walking down the rue after dropping off a gratitude board we made at the releif society activity to a less active, and a lady was trying to bandage her dogs leg, so clearly...we help. She recognizes our accents and is then looks at our tags and says "Mormons, I LOVE the Mormons", some of your boys gave me your book a while back and I love it. She's an English professor, so she speaks really great English and French AND she loves AMERICA, I think she told me that like 200 times. She told US that she wanted us to come to her house and tell her more about the Livre de Mormon and then wrote down her info for us. Golden. We are going by tomorrow because today wasn't good for her. So pray for Glustaime also! It really was amazing. I had been feeling so down all week because we had 0 lessons to teach (yeah, we still haven't been able to teach a lesson) but it was so nice that these people were able to open their hearts to us and recognize us as servants of Christ. I also thought that it was cool that both of the experiences were products of simple service, just the way the Lord did it.

 

Oh I just remembered! Another miracle! Last week we went over to a less-actives house to introduce ourselves and she wasn't home, but her husband was. He seemed really standoffish with the church and us, so we just left our number and asked when she would be home. He said on Sunday around two, but that she works a lot and probably doesn't have time. WELL, guess who showed up at church

on sunday and payed her tithing! SOEUR ISME! I was shocked when she said her name when she introduced herself, she told us that her husband had said that we came by and thought she better go to church so she could see us. We went back over to her house on Sunday night to say hi because we really didn't get to talk to her much at church. She was SO HAPPY to see us. She's this big Haitian lady. And she sits us down and tells us her whole conversion story (which was through missionaries), how she reads the Book of Mormon and Bible everyday, but how she hasn't been able to go to church because she works almost every Sunday, she told us that she wants us to call her our "Maman Francais" aka French Mama and stop by and bring her chocolate chip cookies like in America. I was like, uhm yes. I can do that. Then we got on the subject about how we were trying to make an omlette for lunch and we couldn't flip it, random, and she is like "OHHH heavens" let me teach you how to make an omlette. Somehow her omlette lesson turned into us all eating a full on dinner and this delicious creole fish stuff. It was crazy. I love her so much. Her husband was there and didn't talk to us at the beginning, but at the end he did a little bit and he shook our hands. It's a start:)

 

The food here is unreal. We have about one mangez-vous (aka rendez-vous w/ food aka dinner appointment) a week, but let me tell you. They feed us well. This week we ate with the Young-Women's president whose husband isn't a member. She lives in literally the most picturesque French cottage you could ever dream up and our whole table setting/meal could have been on display at anthro, not even kidding. We ate some beet salad, fresh bread, then pot au fur like a pot roast, and then yogourt, then cobbler, then chocolate, and finally this nasty fake coffee stuff everyone drinks. The food was SOO delicious. Her husband was really sweet too! He got really touchy about the church at one point, but other than that he was the one who was really chatting with us. I WISH WE KNEW MORE FRENCH. I have to always explain things in such a round-about way because I don't have the words. One day. One day. With time. I need to be more patient.  

 

Yeah, a lot more happened this week than last week that's for sure. I am so grateful for it. I really do know that I am supposed to be here and that there are people here who are ready to hear this message. It's crazy, what I do everyday. Literally walk around France talking to people about Jesus. I never thought this would be me. But I'm so grateful. This is changing my life. I have moments where I experience joy that I've never felt before. It's really cool.

 

Another thing that I have been humbled to realize, is that ALL people have so much to offer and so much to teach. Normally I'm not the type who just strikes up a conversation with a random person on the bus, or park, or road. And I never thought I'd be living with an Austrailian (who I love dearly, btw) or talking to people from all over the world every single day. But the people I have met are so interesting, and so inspiring. I love finding out why people are here, what they beleive in, what they think is the purpose of this life is. I am so grateful that I have the gospel to answer these questions. Everything about the gospel just feels right to me. I know who God is I know that he cares about me. I know that he literally answers my prayers. I know why I am living this life. I know that nothing is coincidence. I know that all people are equal in his eyes. I know why families are so important. I know that he has given us commandments to make us happy in this life, and in the next. I know that the scriptures contain the will of God. And I know that the gospel really brings peace. I just wish everyone would be willing to listen to it with an open heart.

 

OK, Time is up. The pictures I attached are of a random parade that just started going on in the streets. We sat by these two wonderful people who explained to us that it was a tradition for Bretange (the region I live in in France, everyone has a lot of Bretange pride and they always say: I'm not from France, I'm from Bretange...like TEXAS...Je comprende). The parade was so cool and there were SO MANY people there. Oh and I'll also put a picture of our relief society activity. Still the same crafts...hahah.

 

Stay classy.

Soeur Johns

THANK YOU FOR THE STRAIGHTENER. I obviously didn't have it in this picture. I got it today:)

VANNES!!!

MY AMERICAN PEOPLE,

Oh how I love you. Seriously. So much to fill you on. I hope my fingers can keep up.

MTC, who cares to hear about that anymore. Right, right. Moving on.

The plane ride to Paris was overnight and took about 10 hours. Thankfully I can sleep ANYWHERE like I am in the womb and slept for a whole 8 hours on the flight. So much less painful than I was expecting. 

Got to the airport, went through customs...(I think, I pretty much had no idea what was going on at this point), then we met the APs and the Poznanski's. Matt Meyers, one of my friends from Freshman year is the AP. That was so weird. He says hello to all you people who know him. The Poznanski's are wonderful. Super nice and cute and happy. They gave us a Pan de chocolat (so good) and a Livre de Mormon right away, and then we were off to the Metro. I sat on the Metro by this man who was about 25 from Germany. He knew about as much French as I did, but he was SOOO nice. We talked all about Paris and Germany and the BOM of course. It was a 45 minute conversation with a real person. It was so amazing that I got that experience right off the bat. It was one of those "okay, I can do this" moments. From there we went back to the church in Paris which is right next to the modern art museum, sorry Kenzie I can't remember the name. I know you know what I'm talking about. At the Church we just filled out paperwork and ate snacks and had interviews. President is really funny. Our interview was in English, so I could understand, thank goodness. He said he could tell that I wanted to go FAST, and I was like yeah that's right I want to get to work. (spoke too soon). After this we actually went to a hotel instead of the mission home, so I haven't been there yet. Our hotel was great though and the breakfast was literally to DIE FOR. I LOVE THE FOOD HERE. See ya when I weight 200 pounds. Blague (joke). Okay then from there we went to Sacre Coeur and Consacre-ted our missions, get it. Too good. It was so beautiful and I felt the Spirit there so strong. It is amazing what people sacrificed to make these beautiful cathedrals to glorify our God. I attached a picture. Then from there we went back to the mission home and got our areas and trainers. My name came up first. I didn't even have time to comprehend it. I freaked out. Then, I got on a train, uhm like Harry Potter my life was complete, and 4 hours later I arrived. Then from there is is where my story begins:

I'm in Vannes France. 

White-washing aka opening the area.

My trainer is Soeur Grewar. She is Austrailian. And a literal angel.

It is beautiful, truly. It has been half sunshine/half rain.  

It is a decently large city. I really don't know what to compare it to because I don't think places like this exist in America.

Our apartment is brand spanking new. Address= 6 Rue Honore Daumier 56000 Vannes FRANCE.

We walk or take the bus everywhere which means a lot of walking. I'm really tired yeah all the time.  

We are part of the Vannes (for Kenz: pronounced Vonn) Branch which has about 30 active members.

I have had one dinner appointment with the Branch Mission Leader we ate lasagna, then quiche, then yogurt, then chocolate. I love their family. They are really kind and easy to understand.

Everyone gives Bises (greeting with the kisses on both cheeks). Please imagine how awkward I am at them. Hahah. I'm getting better.

Okay that all sounds great, I know, but for the real update.

Honestly, this last week was the hardest week I have ever had in my whole entire life. Lets be real, the MTC was like a sorority. Everything was given to us, we had the most hilarious group of girls, and we didn't have to face the world. The mission is hard. Why is it hard? Well first off, the Adversary knows exactly what I'm doing and he doesn't want me to do it. The first 3 days here I cried every single day, and just wanted to come home. I starting doubting if I could even do this. Since we are opening the area we didn't have any investigators, we didn't know the branch, we didn't know the city, we didn't know where the store, or the bus stops, or the best places to find people were, we didn't have food. My companion can speak French, but not super well and she's really timid. I can't speak at all. Everything comfortable about life was taken away. I had a choice to make. Should I be miserable and quit now? Or should I realize whose work this is and get to it? It was hard to chose the right thing, but I want everyone to know that I am on my mission now.

And by that I mean, I am here to be here and I'm here to stay. 

This Gospel is so true. Yes, it is harder to realize when you take yourself out of your comfortable Mormon community and are left with simply yourself and with an Austrailian. But, I can witness and testify that this is God's work. Everyone needs it.

If anyone is wondering why I am doing this. Why I am literally on my knees every single night crying for these people please watch Dieter F. Uctdorf's talk from the Saturday morning conference session. (Mom please attach to my blog).  This is true. This is true. This is true. 

Thankfully I was able to meet the Branch yesterday. They are wonderful, strong people. They remind me so much of the people in Alabama. I pray for the missionaries there every night. Seriously. It takes so much strength to stand for the gospel here. These people blow me away. Also, I have SO MUCH more empathy for any boy who has ever stayed on their mission till the end. I know a sliver of how hard it is. Those boys who were amazing missionaries. You are my example and quite honestly I have never been more amazed by anything in my life. That goes for you Dad!

Family, I'm sending a letter with more details. No worries. I am out of time.

I love you all. More than I have ever loved you before. Be grateful for the strength of the Gospel in the States. Be grateful for the Prophet and be obedient like he said.

Love, Soeur Johns.

P.S. Mom, We have to cook all of our own food. I would love some pancake batter, if that wouldn't be too much to send. My comp has never had pancakes. Also cake mixes and seasonings for stuff would be literally divine. We eat noodles plain right now every single day (obviously I buy pastries). It's kinda killing me. Also, American measuring spoons would be wonderful. Also, my straightener blew up. It works about 10% of the time. So I will probably buy one. If you will just watch for that to come through on my card that would be great. Until then I will look like mufassa every single day. :) I also would love the recipie for simple chocolate chip cookies. I think that is all I need for now. I will write more in the snail mail letter if I think of anything.