Final week of 2013 and what a year it has been! It was also
the final week of our Christmas singing door to door to find people! We have
spent every single night the past three weeks porting in the cold rain and
singing whenever we can! On Monday night we saw a little miracle! A lady named
Servane let us in to sing and she was just a bundle of sunshine! She is
probably mid 50s and sooo young! We were all just laughing and joking around
the whole time! She has such a great view on life. She got married later in
life around 45 and was married to her dream man for 6 years until one night he
died in his sleep. Pretty sad but she is so positive and happy that it is
impossible not be happy around her! She even sang a song with us! It was the
best start of the week!
On Tuesday night we spent the evening at ThiThanh's for New Year’s
Eve party! She went all out for us and made all these little appetizers and a
nice pizza! More duck liver but oh well. I am only in France for so long so I
should enjoy these things more! It was a great little party! We had ALL of New Year’s Day off and this time
we actually slept!!! UNTIL like
930!! I didn’t think it was possible but boy did it feel good! We did absolutely
nothing all day and it was the most relaxing day of my mission!! I can’t even
explain how nice it was to do nothing. I didn’t even put my contacts in. Little
joys in life! This only happens like once a year as a missionary and I am glad
I took full advantage of it!
On Thursday we had our first district meeting of the
transfer. The district leader is a native French speaker and I am impressed by
myself to understand! It was nice to be back in Angers and for our little
practice teaching we all decided to go out around the chapel in Angers for 15
minutes and do finding splits. I was fully expecting to see a miracle and was
pretty bummed when everyone we contacted wasn’t interested but then we got back
to the chapel and an equipe was in the middle of giving a tour of the Church to
someone that they found!! MIRACLE!!
That night we went to a little small, smaller than Cholet,
town right outside of Cholet and saw another little miracle. We knocked on a
door and a man answered and I introduced ourselves and offered to sing and he
just left and we were pretty confused until he came back with his wife who was
smiling sooo wide and that was even more confusing because most people don’t
greet us with a smile. Turns out she had been part of the English classes by
the missionaries in Cholet a few years ago! She isn’t too believing but had
never even seen the missionaries since that class and had never had her door
knocked. She spoke English flawlessly and was sooo nice! We met her two kids
and had a nice little concert together. Classiest most beautiful family! In a
small place like Cholet it is hard to not to think that every door has been
knocked on... until we meet one that hasn’t! It was just what we needed to keep
going!
So I got these new boots from a dying sister. I love them.
They are great. BUT NO TRACTION. I
may have slipped a few times here and there like in the Paris metro but this
week I had my worst fall. On Thursday night we were walking to go see someone
once again in the rain and I completely fell. Like on the ground in the middle
of the street legs in the air! Thank goodness it was almost 9 at night and
Cholet is small so the only person to see was my companion. I have lost a lot
of my pride so I just kind of stayed down and rolled down the street to laugh
it off. Only to come back home and see I had holes in my leggings and a bloody
knee! Living the life!
Last night we met a rock star! We were porting and a tall,
lean man probably 45 answered the door. First thing I noticed??? His skin tight
leather pants and 7 rings spread across his fingers. He was super cool and let
us in with his daughter to sing. We had a pretty ''complex'' conversation
because he likes things complicated he said. It was just the most bizarre thing
but I was loving it the whole time. He wanted to take a picture of us and his
daughter but good thing the camera was dead. After me and Sœur hill just looked
at each other and said, let’s call him roger. I swear I have met some of the
coolest, craziest, best people in the world on my mission!
Since I have officially passed my halfway mark on my mission
and Sœur Hill officially has 2 months left we decided to finally make the cake
that my mom sent me back in September for my birthday and have a little party!
It was yum yum! Nothing better than boxed brownies, cakes, and cookies from the
good old USA HINT HINT!
I love love love being a missionary! I have learned SO SO SO
SO SO much these past 9 months and I know that I will just continue to learn
and grow! I am becoming the person that I have always wanted to be and the
person that I need to be! It is amazing!
Thank you ALL for
your love and support! I miss you and LOVE
you!
Love,
Sœur Emily Johns
