African Food and Miracles!

HELLO!!!  This has been such a great week! Being a missionary is by far the best thing to be in the whole world right now and I am so lucky to be here and be learning the things that I am!

Last Monday my comp and I went to Sacre Cœur. It was really pretty and cool! It is still an actual church and people pray and mass happens and stuff. So we were sitting in the non-praying section in the building because people already think we are nuns but if we sit WITH the nuns then that may look bad. So we were just chillin escaping from the heat and then all of a sudden 5 men in white robes like the pope and priest in the Catholic Church go in the front and conduct this little thing. I don’t know too much about the Catholic Church but it was really interesting! We didn’t know the line of being respectful and then being weird having our tags and being missionaries. So we just sat there and listened but we didn’t pray with them or stand up too much and things. It was a cool thing!

 Each Tuesday we have district meeting. Let me rephrase that, each Tuesday we are SUPPOSED to have district meeting but having the two most popular elders in our district aka the APs it can be hard to have it at a set time when they are always all over the mission. Anyway so we actually did have it on a Tuesday. My district now consists of 6 elders and 2 sisters and sometimes it can be a boy party and weird. Thank goodness my mom taught me how to be one of the guys at times. So when sharing poop stories while eating lunch started, I knew exactly how to contribute to the conversation. Well I TRIED but then got too embarrassed with the whole Happy Meal Box in Paris thing but I guess I hinted at it enough (I like to tease) so then the elders raced down to the computers in the church and found my blog and story … I won the poop contest though so that is good right ? Elders are fun and they come up with interesting activities. There is a weird pudding like thing here called flaun. I think that is how it is spelt. Not sure. Anyway the elders put it on a plate and you have to suck it up in one try. Pretty much you just inhale a big blob of flubber and everyone cheers. I tried… and FAILED! But good thing I have pleeeenty of time to practice and beat the elders!

So on Thursday ALL of our rendezvous got cancelled. We did not know what we were going to do with our entire day but we knew we had to do something. We were able to talk to a lot of people and teach a lot of people casually and were feeling good. We still needed to fill about an hour and we couldn’t just go home. We were walking around trying to find a woman but were getting kind of discouraged. We see this lady with a HUGE shopping stroller thing. We said hello and asked if she needed help. She is in her 60s and thought we could be of service. FOR ONCE when we ask, someone actually said yes! So she let us carry it up to the 6th floor of her building for her! She even invited us in and gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her part of the first lesson! It is a miracle because we had been praying to find someone solid and just someone who we could see and then we found her! She had been praying for someone to come help her because she had no idea how she was going to carry her cart all the way up! God does answer our prayers and it is amazing! Her name is Marie-Claude! We saw her again on Saturday and she just loves us and is sooooo awesome! We invited her to church and she was coming but then yesterday with the Tour de France the buses were down and so she walked but she walked an hour in the wrong direction and missed church but she will totally be there next week! We saw her yesterday after church and she even fed us! I love her so much already and she is the sweetest!

On Friday I had my first legit African meal! Chantel is a recent convert from Congo and a grrreat cook! We went over there on Friday and had SOOOO MUCH FOOD! We have been kind of not eating because it is too hot to cook but we went to her house and she made ALL this food for us and we thought we would be soo excited and could eat anything but I got sick. It was too much and too good! I was in pain and didn’t know how I was going to walk home but it was fun!

France is HOT! Like burning! I don’t know how it has been in Utah or anywhere else because I don’t watch the news but I know it is hot here! It makes porting and street contacting not the funnest but definitely more worth it when we find someone solid! I guess people think that with the heat they really don’t need clothes… false! Take for example walking to church yesterday. We were walking and there was a man on his balcony straight ahead and I look ahead when I walk… NEVER LOOKING AHEAD AGAIN! He was naked! I wasn’t sure if he was FULLY naked but I knew he was shirtless and I could really see his man boobs. Pretty scarring. So I tell my comp not to look up and we try walking ahead. I was dumb and made awkward eye contact and found that he was FULLY NAKED. He stayed there just wanting us to see him and it was soo gross! UGH! Put clothes on people! Yesterday the Tour de France came to Versailles! We were pretty pumped to go and see it because it seemed like a big deal and it is the 100th! So we planned everything and knew which busses would be working and not for us to get there. Well it didn’t work out quite that well. The bus we planned never came so we spent a while just in the hot sun and then decided to try the train but then after like running to get there we missed it so we saw a bus coming and ran to it and missed it too. I was ready to just give up because we had already missed the big deal part but my comp knew that we could find someone and that it would be worth our time and effort. I was just out of energy and wanting to not be in the heat because the sun really does hate me and turns me red! So we FINALLY get to the château and yup we missed it BUT we did get to see the things that we were supposed to see. So we took pictures of the biking trail and the signs and all that good stuff! Minus the bikers but oh well! Next year maybe? 

I am doing well! I am still the happiest I have ever been even though I am the hottest and feel the grossest and sweatiest but I think people will take the shininess as like the Light of Christ and really recognize us as missionaries !! So bring on the sweat! But really I LOVE being a missionary. I know I say it all the time but it is so true! I love you all. Thank you so much for you love and support and prayers. The people here and missionaries all over the world really need your prayers and support so keep it coming!

Love,

Sœur Emily Johns

Her shoes from walking soooo much

Her companion kept taking pictures of her

Doing the flower blow/wish thing

At the chocolate store