Countdown

So the MTC is getting a bit repetitive and not many exciting things are happening anymore but I am still loving it. i am starting to have to entertain myself and come up with things to do BUT they have led to good times.

On Wednesday us four sisters were walking to a building. Walking can be boring so to make it less boring i suggested that we play Red Light Green Light. You know the game you play when you are like 6 or 20 and bored? So Sister Denning was the leading and called Red Light and Green Light. When it was green the three of us ran so fast and then at red we stopped dead in our tracks. We were doing pretty well UNTIL Sister Denning called Red and Sister Hunsaker stopped so fast that she fell to the ground. Like a real fall. Not just a stumble.  I dropped to the ground too because it was soo funny. Our elders had been not too far away and saw the whole thing AND the new elders from France that Sister Hunsaker has been trying to be friends with to practice french saw too. SOOO funny. maybe you just had to be there OR i am just desperate for laughs.

My senior year i took over babysitting an amazing family called the Farrs/Cournows... The kids and the dad ended up being baptized and they were the first family that I helped teach that were baptized. Guess what? my companion is in their ward. We finally figured it out and realized that i have been to her ward a few times and we both freaked out a bit. A cool thing is that the Dad, Brian, spoke for his first time in church the same Sunday that sister Denning's brother had his farewell. He is serving in the Lyon mission so it just made the world so small!

There are quite a few elders here from Islands like Samoa, Tonga etc. and the other night when we were walking back to our residence about 30 elders did the haka in front of everyone. SUPER cool and a bit scary. because they had name tags on it was less scary than it would normally be! 

I leave in less than a week! That is right!! I got my flight plan on Friday! It is a straight flight from SLC to Paris. 40 of us Paris missionaries leave SLC Monday at 4:50 pm and get to Paris on Tuesday at 11:15! It is getting real. I cannot wait to be there and start teaching people and learning more french. I have loved the MTC and thinking about leaving is hard but i know that i have done my best here and am being prepared! 

As many of you know, I CANNOT sing. Jessica is the sister that was blessed with that talent. Well guess what i got for trying to sing... last Tuesday at devotional the mtc choir sang. i joined to be with my companion who CAN sing. during rehearsal the camera went straight to the person right in front of us so we told everyone to look for that one girl and then they could see our shirts and we would be famous. WRONG! during the devotional the camera people decided that instead of focusing on the girl in front of my that they would zoom in on ME!!! like a good 20 seconds of just my face. the worst part is that i was LIP-SYNCING and didn't know the words. i am hoping that no one could really notice. the hardest part was not winking at the camera or pulling a silly face. i held strong. the whole time i could see myself on the big screen but i had to ignore it. everyone came up to me after and just laughed haha so i became an mtc celebrity for about 45 minutes... I didn't do the choir this week for obvious reasons BUT I am writing a song in french. I make up a lot of my own french phrases that don't make sense and people wouldn't say but they are good one liners so i am going to create a full song and perform it to my district. also the four sisters are going to peform come thou font! i am so excited. we surprisingly sound well. i am not going to lip-sing for these because i don't want a repeat of last time!

Yesterday was fast Sunday .. ROUGH! On Saturday we had dinner at 4 pm and on Sunday we didn't have dinner until 6 pm so that is over 24 hours of fasting. it wasn't hard at all and we had amazing testimonies shared but after we walked to the temple and sat in the sun and had super dry mouths, that is when it got hard but i did it and know that the blessings received from fasting and the importance of it is real!

this morning we went to the temple like we do each p day  it is sad thinking that it will be the last time i go to the temple for 17 months. we MAY have time next Monday to go but if not, this was a great last time for a bit. i encourage all members who are able to go to the temple to go. it is so important and needed.
i love you all! I love this gospel. Continue to write me. Use dearelder this week because it wont be free and instantly delivered once i am in France and you will have to write letters or emails instead of dear elder.

Love you all so much!

Soeur Emily Johns