Photo A Day

Soeur Nielson and I realized that we have been taking more photos of the sky then of ourselves and we decided that we would change that. So we have committed ourselves to taking at least one photo each day until I go home. Challenge ACCEPTED! 

Monday we did our last skype session with the elders in Romania. Slauco's parents are back in Spain and are actually from the SAME ville that my sister Jennifer is serving in! So hopefully they get to meet up! Somehow it manages to rain EVERY single Monday here but thankfully this time we had our umbrellas.... 

STRASBOURG! We had our week two district meeting with our entire zone in Strasbourg which has only been part of France for less than 75 years! Our zone is the entire eastern part of France and it is fun! We take a TON of trains and so in Nancy waiting to go to Strasbourg me and Soeur Nielson were the ONLY people on the train because we got there early. Well I noticed that the driver booth thing was open and the driver was just relaxing and so I mentioned to my comp that we should ask for a tour. She agreed with the idea but was nervous... This is when the whole me not being shy really comes in handy. So I just walked into his little office/driver seat thing and was like, Excuse me. I have been in France for like 16 months and taken a LOT of trains but have never seen this part. Can we have some photos?  IT WORKED!! Maybe he just thought we were dumb Americans but who cares. He even let us sit IN THE DRIVERS seat and we felt sooo cool! So then we just bragged all day to the other missionaries about how cool we are! 

In my zone there is Elder Sugroue! He was in Versailles with me when we were both being trained and knew NOTHING and now we are in tiny villes considered OLD missionaries. Also Elder Ursua is in my district!! This is the third time that we are either in the same ville or same district! I swear that you just serve around the same people and I am lucky that it is with my favorite people! Also Soeur Bell is a bleu and was just taught in the MTC by one of my old companions Soeur Hill! SMALL WORLD! 

When we got back to Toul we weren’t as lucky because it was POURING and we had no umbrellas. I promise that I got just as soaking wet as Soeur Nielson but turns out that curly hair doubles as a helmet and so you can’t even tell. There really are some perks of this hair! 

Some of you know that my tear ducts don’t quite work the same way as others. AKA I can’t cry. There have been SOOO many times that I just want to cry and really try but nothing comes. Well Tuesday it came. Not quite as much as my comp or any of my crying comps in the past but tears came out of my eyes! We have been having some really serious drama in Toul and this week it fully came on with getting the 'big guys' involved. So we had to talk with our mission president and have I mentioned that he speaks INCREDIBLE English??? It is sooo gooooood! It helped because we were really able to express ourselves without any language barrier. We didn’t take any photos of the crying because we aren’t pretty criers but just be proud that it happened! I think now I can say i have cried 4 times since I have had this plaque! 

Wednesday we had some toilet problems but thank goodness for the Gionets! They spent more time at our apartment then we did but now our toilet doesn’t leak! Wednesday we were probably at our apartment for less than 2 hours total! That evening we had to make a cheesecake to stay BFFs with the family Benoit but we had 10 minutes and no recipe for cheesecake.... Prayers answered! We did an Oreo cheesecake that was a HIT and also may have invented the funniest game ever! With the left over whipped cream we put it in our hands and throw it up and catch it. The benoits are officially the best at it and it was soo fun! The girls taught us about sacrament and we played DONT EAT PETE! They wanted to play another game but we aren’t THAT creative and so we played ''practice porting'' and the girls LOVED it! They got to wear our plaques and knock on their door and try to pray with us! They will make great missionaries one day! By far our favorite family!! 

Thursday we had some toilet problems but thank goodness for the Gionets! They spent more time at our apartment then we did but now our toilet doesn’t leak! Oh and my companion tried to curl my hair; we are trying out all of the different hair styles because my hair is in need! Friday we were just having problems keeping our food where it belonged and I got mint powder all over myself and then raisins ALL OVER the kitchen!

Saturday we brought the summer in the USA to Toul France with our version of s'mores. It was a bit more complicated than we had thought because graham crackers don’t exist and finding normal marshmallows instead of vanilla flavored and not having a campfire made them taste different but the Benoits had no idea and loved it anyway. Of course more playing with whipped cream and getting the grandparents involved helped! We are trying to do more service for people but I don’t think cutting logs will be the best idea. It is SO much harder than it looks and I guess being in a dress and without gloves can be my excuse! We also got some good porting in and found where the Hobbit lives. I am not sure that reference works because I haven’t seen it... 

We made a quiche!! We had no idea how to make it because Soeur Horn always did it for me so we just put the things we thought were supposed to be in it... it worked! We are pretty impressed and are determined to make madelines and macarons before I go home too! And tiramisu! I promise I will come back with some good French recipes!

This week has been a test for us. A test of faith in the fact that God really does have a plan for each of us. Sometimes after I teach someone one of these principles I realize that I am really teaching myself and that I need to do the things that I am asking others to do. I have officially been a missionary for 17 months now and this is the last month of my life to be a missionary! Every day in September is going to be special and i have made it a goal to really learn EVERYTHING that I can and to do EVERYTHING I can this last month of my mission! I love being a missionary! I got my flight plans today and am feeling sick... We will see what happens! 

I love and miss you all and can now say... See you next month! Oh and for those of you who are REALLY popular and busy. Keep the 19th of October open for my homecoming! 

Love

Soeur Emily Johns