Surprise!

SURPRISE!!!!!!

Today is Monday... and I am emailing. Since the MTC will be getting an extra like 2,000 missionaries in the coming months ALL of the schedules for missionaries here have changed. My PDay is now Monday instead of Tuesday and the daily schedules are WHACK! But it isn't too bad and Monday PDay is proving to be the best. There was like NO ONE in the laundry room and we didn't have to wait at the Temple and yeah so far so good! Our teachers said it will make us appreciate our schedule in Paris more because it is more laid back there!

So the MTC is jam-packed. SOOO many people here but I always see everyone I know. One of the coolest things is seeing people that I lived in Germany with ten years ago!!! The Bitburg Crew is all at the MTC right now. Ethan Kennedy is teaching Polish, Traci Brown is teaching Norwegian and Nathan Peterson is going to Argentina and I am going to Paris. Such a small world but I love seeing so many familiar faces. Now that my friend Jasmine is gone it is nice to still have those pre-mish people around!

I survived like two years at college NEVER doing my laundry in a public place. The thought of doing that scared me and so I had an amazing Mom who allowed me to use her laundry room during college. Learning how to use these machines is harder than most people think. Last week I may have accidentally put the laundry detergent in the liquid bleach part instead of sprinkling it on the clothes.. OOPS! I think my clothes got cleaned and I hope the washer is not broken. This week I did it perfectly so that is what matters!

Which of you watched that video I told you about last week? "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father." If you did, thank you! If you didn't, watch it now. Life changing I swear. If you did watch it and now you trust my Mormon messages recommendations, I suggest you watch, "Mountains to Climb." It is so good. It is amazing how just watching a 2-3 minute video can make your day and how quickly you feel the Spirit by watching them. If you are having a rough day or just want your day to get even better, watch anything on MormonChannel on youtube or on mormon.org and it will improve your day!

Last week I told you about how I put pepper in my chocolate milk and how confused I was about why I would do that to myself... Turns out that I DIDN'T DO IT!!!! I don't want to say that missionaries lie because if I said that then no one would let us into their homes but MISSIONARIES PULL PRANKS!!!! Elder Cardon put pepper in my drink last week and then let me believe for a few days that I would actually do that to myself. So rude. I don't have much access to prank books so if any of you know a prank I can do back to him, please let me know. I need to get even!!

Yesterday was a great Sunday here at the MTC! For Relief Society we had the newly called General Young Women President  Sister Oscarson come and speak to us. She's had this calling for less than a month and yesterday was her first official assignment. She was wonderful and I know Elaine S Dalton has some pretty big shoes to fill but Sister Oscarson will be so great. A cool thing about her is that at age 25, pregnant with her fourth kid, she was called to be the Mission Presidents Wife of the Sweden Mission. Her husband was only 29. It is crazy to imagine having that role at such a young age. Then last night at Devotional we had the managing director of the missionary department Brother Allen speak to us. He was hilarious. At General Conference it is hard to see these amazing men as being so funny and so it is nice to see that side of them here at the MTC! One funny thing he did was have a missionary come up and participate. He asked this Elder what he had to give up in order to come on a mission and the Elder said, "my girlfriend," and Brother Allen said, "on behalf of all return missionaries, thank you for the donation." It was so funny and total mission humor but that is almost all my humor is these days! It was a great Sunday though!

For those that know me know that I DO NOT sing! But I have a companion who is an amazing singer and pianist. So yesterday you will not believe what I did... I was in the MTC choir! The choir director is like this legit professional singer and he kept saying these words and terms that I had no idea what they meant. Straight over my head they went. It ended up going well and the choir is 550 and will sound so great tomorrow night at Devotional. I am just surprised still that I will be in a choir and choosing to sing. I just really hope that I don't mess up the tune too much and ruin the choir!

After last weeks VERY PERSONAL email I am a bit worried about how many people will read this weeks. BUT my awesome sister Michelle (the sister that runs this blog) told me that this blog has been viewed from 8 different countries!!!! I feel pretty cool about that but also a bit of pressure not to disappoint. I will continue to do my best. I just have one request... people from Indonesia, Russia and the UK PLEASE tell me who you are. Or if you are from one of the other countries and I don't PERSONALLY know you, send me an email or dearelder. The information should be on the left of this blog. I would love to know who you are! Also a big thank you to my wonderful family and friends who read my weekly emails and for supporting me.

I debated on whether or not to include this part of my week but after realizing that I already shared SO much from last week, this little story didn't seem too bad and I won't see any of you for 17 months and by then you will probably forget this happened because I am trying my best to forget too! So enjoy getting to know me even more!

My poop failed.

I thought it was solid (not meant to be gross) but I didn't pass. Belguim doesn't want me. 

On Tuesday I was in my residence and on the intercom it asked for Sister Johns and I was like "yo!" and they were like "you have a doctor appointment tomorrow" and I was like "why???" and they were like "you can come down in person to get more info." 
So of course I went down but after I had a mini panic attack. Unscheduled and unexpected appointments are the WORST! A million different diagnosis came through my head. I asked everyone how many types of cancer can be discovered through poop. Not many. So I went down and the nurse, Ellen who is the sweetest, asked me in a serious way if I drink pond water. WHAT??? Who drinks pond water so of course I said no silly. Then she asked if I go boating or play in dirty water. I said yes I have been boating but I don't intentionally drink it. Turns out I have parasites!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! After thinking about it I became even sicker. 
I had to go back to the DR on Wednesday and meet with him. He asked the same weird questions and then we came to the conclusion that I have spent my life drinking the BEST water from the natural spring at my Grandparents property and may have taken some bad falls in gross lakes and drank loads of parasite water. The worst part is that he said I will get to France EVENTUALLY! I was not having that so I said drug me asap and get me to France. My sweet little Ellen had already passed me off on my Belgium visa just hoping that the drugs will work but the doctor won't actually let Belgium accept me until my little parasites are gone. I took 4 giant pills that left my mouth tasting like metal for a few days. I ate LOTS of mints to get rid of it because missionaries don't chew gum. (lame rule but exact obedience brings miracles!) 

Then on Thursday my companion and I got to escape the MTC together to go to the BYU health center to pay the copay. Freedom never felt so good. I also got to see the building at BYU that is named after my Great Grandpa who was a general authority, William James Critchlow. google him. He is cool! 

I will have to poop again this week and hopefully legitimately pass the test so I can honestly get into Belgium. I am hoping that third time pooping in a bag is the charm!

Thank you for not judging me! But also... get tested! I had to write my family that same day to tell them to be tested but personally I don't think having a parasite is that big of a deal. Yeah I have felt sick a few too often times but they make you consistent! Thanks for staying my friend. 

I LOVE being a missionary. It is seriously the BEST thing that I could be doing right now and I love every minute. I cannot believe that two weeks from THIS MOMENT I will be on my way to Paris. SO CRAZY! I will get my flight plans at the end of this week and will just have to really make my last week my best. I am in no way trunky or anything from the MTC but I am just so excited to represent Jesus Christ and share the happiness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints brings me with the people of France, Belgium and Luxembourg!

For people that haven't yet served a mission but are thinking about it or even planning on it, all I can say is DO IT!!! There are definitely hard times and I know it will get much harder when I am actually in Europe but the amazing times really outweigh the hard and it is so worth it. I feel like I have already grown so much and improved myself as a person!

I love you all. Please continue to email, write and DearElder me. I really appreciate all of the love and support from so many people. I have been here for a month already!! I will see you in 17 months!!

Soeur Emily Johns!