Monday, February 24, 2014

REUNION!

This week has been full of reunions. Reuniting with villes, friends and family!! I am really blessed!!

On Tuesday we spent the full day in Nantes!! We had an exchange there and boy was I excited!! It was my third time doing an exchange in Nantes and like my 8th time there so pretty much I love Nantes!! It is a big city with an electric elephant. GOOGLE THAT! Of course wherever I go I always have to see all the people that I know and love. For example when I go to Versailles I HAVE to see the Greniers. So when I go to Nantes I HAVE to see Rebecca and ThiThanh!! It may be a problem because all the plans and train tickets have to go around my schedule with my friends but hey you can’t send me to a city where I form grrrreat friendships and then kick me out and not expect me to see them all every time I am back! Not my fault!

So ThiThanh met us at the gare in Nantes!! My little Vietnamese BFF!! Instant happiness every time I see or talk to her. We spent the morning with her at the church in Nantes and of course we were on the YouTube for the missionaries aka MORMONCHANNEL.ORG go there and you can spend hours watching videos and being soo soo soo entertained! Of course with ThiThanh LOTS of pictures got taken. The camera is her best friend but definitely not mine. ThiThanh gave me a gift... A 42 page HUGE book full of photos from my mission. She may have spent some time on my blog and the mission fb to get photos but hey I have a beautiful book from her! It is huge and you better bet that it will be with me every day! My companion immediately loved her just like everyone does! It is the ThiThanh effect!




I did my exchange with Soeur Hafen who I had a class with my last semester at BYU. She is a BOMB missionary!! One of those 19 year olds that just makes the age change the greatest thing!! We had to do legality for her and we don’t waste any missionary time. So maybe we taught all of the étrangers trying to get legal the restoration and gave out Book of Mormons but we gotta teach where we find!!

After that we had to make a stop at Rebecca’s! If you remember Rebecca she is the American that I met when I was in Cholet who had read my blog before I met her! She now lives just outside of Nantes and so we went and saw her and her two GORGEOUS kids! I feel really blessed to have made soo many amazing friendships that are for life and not just for my stay in a ville! Then we met ThiThanh for dinner! Crepes and galettes!! SOO yummy!! I will be starting my 6 months to sexy next week when I hit my 7 months to sexy... After the crepes!









There are four elders here in Rennes and they are the greatest!! One set of elders here call us all the time to give us women that they found porting for us to pass by. Well on Saturday we did just that. Livia answered the door and we were able to pray with her and had a good little lesson. Right after the prayer to leave three men came in.... Turns out it’s a family!!! I would be more excited but the dad is a bit different! HE KISSED ME!! And by kiss I mean bis in the French way! I shook his hand to greet him and he kissed my hand!! 
Then we talked and he knows a lot of missionaries in the south of France and is really funny but then when we were leaving he asked if he could bis us and we said no we don’t bis men. Then he GRABBED soeur tane and bissed her!!! SOOO awkward! SO I immediately put my hands on my cheeks so he couldn’t but that didn’t stop him... bissed me still with my hands trying to save me! He was trying to be funny and making missionaries uncomfortable is definitely funny but yeah... not sure when we will be going back!

Yesterday the church was PACKED!! SOOO many amis, less actives and recent converts at church!! It was the coolest thing to see just soo many people ready to learn and excited about the gospel!

I found my Greniers of Rennes!! Obviously NOTHING replaces my love for the Greniers but I am happy to say that I have found an amazing family here in Rennes!! The Letorts!! The kids snap chat and talk to my sister in Utah and our families will meet in the summer! I really am soooooo grateful for the INCREDIBLE people that I have met on my mission and continue to meet!!

I am happy! I love my life! I can’t believe how fast time goes but boy do I love my mission!!

Thank you all for your support and prayers and love!

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!


Soeur Emily Johns











From the Chateau today




ISLAND

This was a great week! I feel like I worked the least amount but I had the greatest and most success in a long time. So maybe it is true that if you do what you love for work than it is not work at all! I am LOVING life!

We went shopping with Sophie!! She was in need of some longer dresses and skirts so it was NECESSARY for a shopping spree. Sephora doesn’t sell clothes?? kidding! But we found the cutest dress just for church and it was a success. I swear that every time I go shopping and I actually enjoy it that I have to remind myself of all of those years that the thought of shopping made me upset. Missions really do change people!


I have had a LOT of crepes. Britagne is known for the crepe and galette and all the members here live up to that reputation. Crepe parties at member’s house and crepe outing at little cute shops and making crepes at the church with the flour and sugar we found there... crepes all around. But I promise that I am eating my fruits and vegetables too!

This past week we had dinner at an English couple’s house with a recent convert from Mongolian... DINNER WAS SUPER!!! Who knew that Mongolian food was sooooo good! I am determined to find a 5 star Mongolian place in Utah! It was fun and hey it was all in English! Which surprisingly sometimes is harder for me than in French. I feel like an awkward sister missionary when I am in English where as in French I am just someone that doesn’t know French so I can be awkward!

I have a lot of hair. I know that I have a lot of hair. Well now my companion and the whole ward knows too! She is like a hair style genius. In honor of the valentines dance she did my hair. I still don’t know how she did it all in 15 minutes but she did! It looks cool right?? SO when I made my big debut at the valentine dance I had the hair to match. Too bad we could only stay to greet our amis and not actually dance. But valentines 2015 watch out! Every day we searched our mailbox for valentines.... I GOT 3!!! PLUS a package!! 







WOO HOO!! SO I realize that I am a little OCD and like to be prepared. Turns out I didn’t really need all the things I asked my mom to send. I have actually been saving up everything because I know that one day I will need it. SO remind me to not ask for packages until I am actually out of the things I need! THANKS for all the love though!!



Our Mexican miracle continued! Mauricio and Alicia both came to FHE, institute, church and a baptism! Alicia is home in Mexico now but you bet we will still be seeing Mauricio!

Being in Britagne it rains a LOT. SO much that President frequently calls to give us the weather report AKA telling us to get inside because of a storm! So there is no need for me to miss the news or the newspaper because president just lets us know what the weather will be like! Perks of Rennes!

On Saturday Bob got baptized! He has been meeting with the missionaries for two years and Saturday was the big day! He is from New Caledonia and so of course all of the islanders in the ward made a huge party for him! We spent a lot of time on Saturday pretty much on an island with lots of rice and island music and my companion was in heaven!! It was a lot of fun!! He is too cool!







I love my life! I love being a missionary and I love everything! I am just really happy and love being able to share some of the things that make me the happiest with people every day!

Thank you for all the love and support!  I love and miss you all!!

Love

Soeur Emily Johns

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

NO HABLO ESPANOL

It seems that ever since my sister Jennifer left on her mission to Spain that I keep having this Spanish experience... for example?? MEXICAN MIRACLE!!

Things are going great here in Rennes. It rains A LOT!!! I can’t even begin to express how much I miss dry ground but hey it makes things green and I like green! Thank goodness but the solid umbrella that I snatched from my mom’s home!! LIFE SAVER!!

Me and Soeur Tane made a transfer goal to become BFF... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! It was pretty hard at first because my French isn’t that great or really my sensitivity but it is improving and thanks to Soeur Tane!! Our friendship has gotten soo good that she even wrote me a song. Pretty much she is a Tahitian pop star and writes her own music. She is soo talented and I am the first companion to get a song!! HONORED!! If I had working tear ducts then I would have cried but it is the thought that counts right?? Our friendship has gotten so good that I cut her hair. I am not AT ALL qualified to cut hair and I have never done it in my life except for spring break in NYC with a boy that I had never met. That is about it so when I was just writing in my journal one night and Soeur Tane comes with scissors and asks me to cut her hair..... I said no! But then I did it and it isn’t that bad. TRUST!!



Who out there likes TANGLED???? ME ME ME!! So you bet that I was super excited when I found out that the tangled castle was in my area and by my area I mean not really but oh well. It is called Mont St Michel and is off the beaches of Normandy. It was soo cool and having a member, ami and my companion all there made it even better!! It was so fun! My companion really likes to take selfies so I hope you enjoy all the solo shots of myself... 












Now for the Mexican miracle... So on Thursday we had a rdv set at the church and we were sitting there waiting and the time just kept ticking and ticking. Finally we hear the door to the church open and got super excited! FAIL!! Not the ami we were expecting but even better. Meet Alicia... she is a member from Mexico just visiting Rennes for a couple of weeks to see her nonmember friend Mauricio. She googled the church and decided to come by and we just happened to be there!! It was beautiful! You bet that we invited her and her friend to institute but she wasn’t sure he would come because he isn’t too religious. HE CAME!!! Turns out that we have a YSA that speaks Spanish. Mauricio is learning French but doesn’t speak English and Alicia speaks a little English and no French so communicating.. Hard! Watching finding NEMO with Spanish subtitles in high school didn’t teach me as much as I thought it would. They both really liked institute! Then they both came to church for all three hours and turns out that there are several Spanish speakers in the ward!! THEN they both came to FHE on Monday!! They are too cool and I am soo grateful to know them. They both just radiate light and happiness and I feel like I am becoming a better person through them!



Yesterday we had interviews with president and zone conference and guess who is in my zone... SOEUR MELVILLE and you bet I was soo happy to see her and even happier when she told me how much my French has improved!! I love being a missionary and all of the cool miracles and experiences that I have had!
Valentine’s Day is on Friday.... RECIEVED my first and only valentine from my girl XANY... still accepting any other forms of love! I hope you all feel my love and not just on valentines!





I love you and miss you all! Thanks for all the love and support!!

Love,

Soeur Emily Johns

Her new board in her new apartment

New Caldonian Family 

Microwave Cake

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Time!

HELLO!!

So Rennes is similar to Cholet ONLY in the fact that we have FHEs with the families here! And by FHE I mean that we go and eat TOO TOO TOO much food and share a spiritual thought. But it is fun. Just going to be hard trying to figure out how to kindly turn down food.

On Tuesday we headed out to Paris! Riding on a long train backwards to Paris with a crying baby made it a bit rough but knowing I would be seeing the Greniers made it ALL worth it! Walking down the streets in Versailles and walking into the Greniers made me realize how fast time goes. It seems like just yesterday that I was living in Versailles and going to their house every week. This time it was with a new companion and I don’t live in Versailles anymore. But the moment the family came home... I was home!! Raphael was stuck in Paris but everyone else was there! I really love that family! I just spent the whole evening talking with Soeur Grenier in the Kitchen! JUST the way I like it! TOO TOO great to be back with them all!





Then going and spending the night in my old apartment in Versailles and having Soeur Melville staying the night there too was crazy! I love being back! On Wednesday we had our conference with Elder Kearon! Half of our mission was there including the new office couple the Bousseaus who are from the ward in Cholet that I spent Christmas with! Elder Kearon is amazing! I have seen him all throughout my mission and he reminded me that he will keep coming to speak to me until I really listen haha. He is pretty much on first name basis with me after all this time!



At the conference I snatched the best thing for a missionary! The Liahona. I got the November conference addition, Jan and Feb! CANDY for missionaries! Can’t wait to read them all!

It is Chine week here in Rennes and so you bet that we visited it for Sophie! 
SOOOOOOOOO many Chinese people everywhere. I thought I was in China but then I looked at the beautiful building and remembered I was in France! There was a dragon and everything! I am now determined to follow my sister Jessica and live in China one day!





Today I have officially been a missionary for 10 months. BOY oh BOY does the time go fast! I can’t believe that in 8 months I will be home. I am determined to make every day of the next 8 months full! I really love my mission!

Thank you again for EVERYTHING! The prayers and the support and the love is very much appreciated!

I love and miss you all!!

Love,

Soeur Emily Johns

Simone a Cambodian member