Joycley's Story

One day Joycley was sitting on the bus and said a prayer. She hadn't prayed in quite a while, but her world was falling apart. She had recently moved back to Belgium from the UK after her dad died to take care of her momma, who hasn't been the same since. 33, divorced, and living with her mom in a French speaking country. This was just not what she was picturing for her life. To add to her stress, that day she had gotten a notice to move out of her apartment. She felt like there was no hope in the world, so she prayed and simply asked her Father in Heaven, "Please let the next person who sits by me on this bus be a positive person."

Up walks Soeur Wade. (One of the Soeurs who was in the MTC with me.) She sat down next to her and started talking. Joycley noticed the accent and asked her if she spoke English. They started chatting and got off the bus together at the next stop. 

When Joycley realized they were the missionaries her first instinct was to RUNNNNN and HIDEEEE, but she couldn't ignore that these two beautiful girls were a direct answer to her prayer. So she listened. She was touched. And she decided to accept their offer to come over and help her move. 

By the time she was all moved into her new apartment her and "the Sisters" had established a real friendship. She had been coming to church and really enjoying it. But all of the information was so new, and she had already been baptized 4 times, so she wasn't sure if this was the path that she should take. 

Then she started reading the Book of Mormon from page 1. This is where her conversion to the gospel really started to take place. She was amazed by how well she could understand the words and relate to them. Each time she read and prayed she felt in her heart that the Book of Mormon was true. Eventually that feeling progressed into knowing that she needed to be baptized. 

So she was!! 

Yesterday!!

My girl, Joycely is the newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!!!

Have miracles ceased??? Was it a coincidence that Soeur Wade sat down next to her after she had prayed for just that??? 

I think NOT. :) 

Ahh, I really am just sooooo sooooo sooooo happy. I feel so blessed to have been able to teach this amazing person, and know that it was not us. None of this was us. Just the LORD. 

The baptism itself was interesting, to say the least. haha. Joyce is WAY afraid of water. Like HUGE huge huge phobia. Almost all of the members in the branch came out to support her (miracle in and of itself) and were there for the first time she went under. Wellllll her legs popped up and she freaked out that she was drowning, so she had to do it again. BUT SHE DID NOT WANT TO. She was just like "no sorry that is going to have to count, we are done", "no sorry joyce, you're not baptized yet". We had all of the members leave and go into the next room, and then drained the water and had her sit down and tried it again. TOES again. Ayiiii. She was about to pass out from fear at this point and just did NOT want to go under again. Little did we know all of the members in the room next to us prayed and right after they said amen, she went under all the way :) Praying works, people. 

I am just SO happy. Joycley is REAL conversion. She is in this for life. Everything just felt good and right.

And on top of that we met a new friend named Lida. She came to the baptism yesterday and she really felt the spirit. She will be at church on Sunday :)  

As for the NEWS....

I am staying in Liège and will be working with Soeur Hilton! We were in the same district in Bretagne and SHE IS A RED-HEAD too. Red-head equipe miracles again. I'm so ready. She is just a wonderful human and I'm excited to work with her. :) Not training...had to get over a little bit of pride...but I KNOW that President is inspired and I am trying to refuse in getting caught up in how everyone thinks of me as a missionary. I know how bad my feet hurt, I know how much I love these people. That's all that I need :)  

MIRACLE TRANSFER HERE WE COME. 

Love you all. You inspire me daily. 

Soeur Johns 

 

The best photo we got. :) Beautiful Joycely

Transfer picture. 4 down. How in tarnation??

Hell and a half

Darkest week of my life. 

I'll explain in a minute. 

I have to start though by saying that Joycley's baptism is still on! We actually moved it to this Sunday the 15th at 6:00PM. She is so ready it is actually insane. We went through all of the lessons this week and formally committed her to live all of the commandments and she not only said yes, but is living them so righteously. On Saturday night we had a movie night and watched the long temple square version of the Joseph Smith movie, she showed up with her grocery stroller because she went shopping on Saturday to keep the Sabbath Day holy. I was so proud. On Sunday it was so fun to watch her go around and invite everyone to her baptism and ask them to give talks. She is going to be SUCH a solid member of this church and the Branch loves her so much. She has been so prepared in her life to live this gospel, and I am so excited to watch her make this covenant Sunday night :) 

Oh and she asked us to sing. Why these people keep asking this of me, I have no idea. 

That is GREAT, HAPPY news, so I should have just been on cloud nine and skipping down the road singing children's hymns, right? 

Wrong, the adversary had to have a go at me first. 

Somehow throughout this week A TON of anti-mormon, anti-christian, false doctrine, deep doctrine stuff came up. Things I had never even heard of or thought about or cared to know honestly. It was literally day after day this entire week of bombardment with these kinds of things. And I can promise you we did not go looking for it. It found us. 

Needless to say, My faith was shaken up like never ever before. I was so confused, and was walking around the whole week just kind of FREAKING out to be honest that I had ruined my life by going on a mission. Dramatic, je sais. I knew the only intelligent option was to just keep moving forward and working and praying and trying, and that I couldn't just quit. But my heart was so far from everything and I couldn't testify without feeling like a liar. I was three seconds away from making the call to come home. Thankfully, I have had FAR too many prayers answered to EVER deny that we have a loving God who hears us, so I continued praying hard to Him to know what I should do. But nothing happened right away... 

Sunday we showed up at Church, and in all seriousness EACH and EVERY one of my questions were 100 percent answered without me asking a SINGLE one of them. One answer came on the bus on the way to church where one of our Elders, who knows way to much about the most random stuff, randomly started talking specifically about the topic that had shaken us up the most. One answer came in an inspired sacrament meeting talk about the Bible. One answer came as we ate dinner with the Motulai Family and Joycley that night and President Motulai gave Joycley advice and counsel that I selfishly felt was directed more towards my struggles. One answer came in a Priesthood session conference talk I read that night. But all of the answers came in the form of heart warming spiritual confirmations that God loves me, Jesus is the living Christ, that the fullness of the Gospel has been restored on the earth by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that the Book of Mormon is true. 

I cannot tell you enough how RANDOM and seemingly coincidental each of these were. Seriously. I am CONVINCED that there is no such thing as coincidence, just God.  

Now, I feel a little (lot) silly that I ever let myself feel so down over these things. It is SO clear that it was the adversary. Stupidly clear. I KNOW that he doesn't want Joycley to be baptized, and I know that he wants to ruin my life. I have been taught all my life that  that things like this happen to people who are preparing to take their life to the next level. I don't know why I was surprised that it happened to me. But now I certainly know that I am converted to this Gospel, and I know that I have seen and felt too much to ever walk away from it. 

My advice to anyone that has struggled with something like this (in the words of President Motulai), "Don't let something you don't know for sure, get in the way of something you do know for sure."  There is always a reasonable way to doubt anything that is faith based. That is the POINT of faith. But seriously, it is always more wise to doubt your doubts, and remember that you cannot always take "logic" at face value either. This church really is filling the earth, as prophesied, and I hate to break it to you, but you walking away, or me walking away, or your family walking away, or my family walking away is not going to stop it. 

I can bear you my witness that I know that this is true. Every claim we make, that Joseph Smith saw God the father and Jesus Christ, that the Book of Mormon is a book of ancient scripture comparable to the Bible, that worthy ordained men have the Priesthood power to baptize, confirm, organize and ordain in Christ's name, and that we have a living Prophet Thomas S. Monson who directs this church according to what the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tells Him, is TRUE aka. it ACTUALLY happen/is happening. 

It seems too incredible because it IS almost too incredible to comprehend. All I can tell you is that if your not a Mormon you should be, if you are a Mormon, but your sitting on the fence, you should stop lying to yourself and make your choice whether to be in the world or of the world, and if you are a Mormon and have a testimony of these things you better get over yourself and open your mouth and share it.  

I know that this experience has made me into 100 times better/ more consecrated of a missionary. It really has changed the way I look at this work. I know that I am doing the right thing. I ONLY feel good. All of the confusion is gone. I seriously wish I could share with each and every one of you the joy that is in my heart. There is no better feeling in the world. 

I love you all so much, I hope this helps anyone who is going through hard stuff like this. I also hope that this doesn't encourage anyone to go looking for proof that this is wrong. I can only promise you that by doing that you are asking for a lot of trouble and sorrow. Take my word for it. 

I love you all so much!!! Please keep Joycley in your prayers this week, she needs em! We all do. :) 

Love love loveeey love, 

Soeur Johns 

P.S. Soeur Foster and I totally had one of those "Did we just become best friends?" moments this week. Hahah (TV version, clearly) I'm going to miss her so MUCH!! I can't believe this transfer is almost done. 

Emotional overload.

OMGOODNESS people. Talk about a WEEK. 

First off, BROOKELYN SHEA PREATOR congratulations. Ah, I laughed and cried simultaneously when I read the news. It finally hit me that yes I'm really not going to be there and it broke my heart, but I am SO HAPPY FOR Y'ALL. You look so sooo soooo good and happy and the ring is beautiful. YOUR'E GETTING MARRIED. Ah, I die. 

Kenzie JOHNS, darlin your roommates look so awesome. BYU is so great you are going to love it, but don't freak out if you're not sure about it yet. k? 

Mom and Dad y'all are looking as good as ever. Aubs I'm so glad you loved the chocolate :) 

Also can someone tell me about this war that is going on between the US and France and Syria?????? People keep trying to explain it to me in French, but I can't tell if it's a big deal or something to be scared of or not. Love those language barriers. But seriously, TGFBelgium. hah. 

So mission life... 

MOST EXCITING NEWS: 

-Last night Joycley committed to be baptized!!! on September 17th! Ah, I am so beyond happy for her. This gospel is exactly what she wants and needs. It's her missing piece. Pray for her to continue to feel good about all of this :) 

-On Saturday we helped two people move in a row, one from a 4th story apartment to a house, and the other from a house to a 4th story apartment (I think I lost 8 pounds in one day, haha). We were going off shredded wheat and waffles from 8:30AM-8:00PM. Needless to say, we were BEAT and famished. Well, we finished and walked out of the apartment and saw our bus pass the bus stop which means we would have had to wait another 30 minutes. Soeur Foster and I looked and each other and just said "No freakin way" and then SPRINTED to the next bus stop and beat the bus there. NBD. 

-I had exchanges in Brussels with Soeur McGee who is dying this transfer (aka. going home) it was crazy. But we saw a lot of miracles on our exchange, including committing someone to be baptized in the first lesson and them saying, YES. Love it. 

-We had interviews and Zone conference and I never cease to be amazed by how inspired President and Soeur Poznanski are. They talked all about the importance of finding families and Soeur Poznanski shared her parents story. Not a dry eye. 

-Elder Oaks was supposed to speak to the mission next week, but he can't anymore BECAUSE they are creating a THIRD stake in FRANCE. AND AND AND VANNES IS BECOMING A WARD. Fair trade in my book. France is slowly, but surely progressing :) It is amazing too because they challenged us in June to find 100 people who are ready for baptism and baptize 'em before Elder Oaks arrives and we hit it this week!!! 100 baptisms in 3 months is a MIRACLE in this mission. Miracles haven't ceased, even in Europe. 

Other than that, I'm doing great. I could do this forever. Lately, I've really been trying to become more effective in everything that I do: more effective in my prayers, more effective in my studies, more effective in our planning, more effective in our teaching, etc. I've learned so much lately that when you really think about what you are going to do, how you can avoid wasting time, and when you have a structure to each aspect of your day you GET SO MUCH DONE. Our lives are so structured on missions, but there is always a way to do more and get more bang for your buck. And it's really amazing to see how much the Lord is helping us out. I am getting SO MUCH out of this mission it almost doesn't feel fair. OTHERS are the ones who are supposed to be blessed, not me, but sometimes I feel like I am the only one who is getting anything out being here. 

ALSO, I wish SO badly I could take every single minute back that I sat on the computer staring at facebook, or my phone scrolling down insta. Those things are great, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will use them when I get home, but just NOT in the way I was before. I swear I could have changed the world in some significant way in the amount of time I wasted. Ayii. Learn from my mistakes and take out the needle.  

Well Y'all I love you so so so much. Thank you for your letter and packages and love. I miss you all sooooooooooo much and cannot believe I'm missing these BIG LIFE EVENTS. Kills me, but I know this is where I need to be right now. Still get that confirmation at least once every single day. 

Avec AMOUR,
Soeur Johns 

P.S. So cute, Madame Gallois, from Vannes, just sent me an email with her testimony in it because she went to church yesterday and didn't get a chance to bear it. :) Ah. It's the things like these that make everything hard so worth it.  

 

 

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.