TEXTING

I don’t know what it was like to be a missionary before cell phones came out but I can say that I LOVE to text!! Maybe I am just a normal 21 year old girl in 2014 but man is texting great and texting as a missionary EVEN BETTER!!

This week has been the most successful number wise of my mission. And it ALL pretty much came from our little cell phone and the amazing function it has to text.

I have been sick for the past couple of weeks and this last week has been the worst for my cough. On Sunday evening I couldn’t talk to people because all I did was cough and so I decided to text every name in the phone that I didn’t know to see if they are interested in seeing us and learning about the gospel. Well little did I know... PEOPLE RESPONDED!!! Some just to say that they aren’t interested and some wanted to meet us. So we quickly fixed several rendezvous with people that we don’t know except for the name. I knew it would be a very interesting week...

On Monday evening we had a little FHE with a family from Congo and Martinique that we have been seeing. The dad is the one that attacked me and Soeur Tane with the bis but turns out he is really cool. We shook hands with him promising to come to church. His name is Frederique and he had met with the elders in the south of France A LOT but maybe this time is right for him.

Right after that we did our first texting RDV. It was with someone in the phone named Gwenael. We had her meet us at the metro stop near her apartment because I would just get lost trying to find it on my own. Well we find this TINY little lady and introduced ourselves as the sisters. She responded with I AM REALLY CONFUSED. She thought we were the bon soeures AKA NUNS. Whelp sorry to disappoint but she let us come anyway. She had made a dinner to go with her lint thing of not eating meat. It was pretty good but she was VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY interesting. She had a cross burned into her wrist that she said came from God and she doesn’t like our church building because the spires look like it is stabbing heaven.... But she is super nice and even lets homeless men stay in her apartment. Not exactly sure when we will be seeing her again!

One of the responders to our message was named Hadieb, a man and Muslim. So two strikes against what we can teach as sister missionaries. He got a little bit obsessive before we even fixed the RDV. I explained that the elders would meet him at the church and he seemed fine until he called 23 times in 3 days.... So thanks to the elders leaving a message on his phone... HE HAS STOPPED!

So that was our first interesting experiences from a man this week but certainly not the last. There is a recent convert here named Marco... He is from Macedonia and has this really cool mafia accent when he speaks French. It only makes it better than he always talks with his right hand motioning from his mouth to the air just like you would assume. Well for whatever reason I was honored by a prayer from him. He is SUPER cool and I love him but when the elders forwarded me the text from him... I didn’t quite understand. For those that don’t speak French it is just a bunch of nice words strung together to make a prayer. I asked him about it yesterday at church and he just told me to never ask why and that I am a fille sympa! So I will just accept it with thanks!

Since I have been sick for quite some time and it makes teaching a bit difficult because I am just coughing the WHOLE time... I finally have taken some medicine. And my medicine I mean EVERYONE AND ANYONE just keeps giving me whatever medicine they have in their apartment and wait for me to take it. I have no idea what I have drank or swallowed and it might counter balance one another but I think I am getting better. The best is when ThiThanh called me this week and heard that I was coughing and the next day I received in my mailbox cough syrup and cough drops from ThiThanh with explicit directions of not eating the cough drops like candy and to only take the syrup every 6 hours. So many people have my back and I will be healed in no time!

On Thursday we had a FULL day of texting RDVs. It all started in the morning with LO... SO when we found LO in our phone we were imagining a little Asian girl and that is definitely NOT what we got. Lo is like 25 and 6'4 and a black man... Also he kind of said that he will be praying to God to let me marry him... and he has sent several texts since that RDV asking me to go to dinner with him and to come over... So we will see what the elders can do with this one. We also saw Grace from Congo and Christelle from Vietnam. On Thursday our bus also broke down in the middle of a one car wide street for about 30 minutes. It was pretty exciting because all the cars behind us had to strategically figure out how to back up and out one by one!

Friday we went to Le Mans! We had zone conference and ALL of my companions still in the mission were there; sadly a photo was not taken because I was too busy talking to everyone that I love! We learned lots and lots including that we will be doing Easter Contacting and Porting. Just like at Christmas except this time we don’t have to sing and accept chocolate from strangers!

On Saturday was the relief society birthday party! With some of the different cultures in the ward and in the church the theme was cultural diversity! It was decorated with things from all around the world and different food and talents! We made pancakes and pbj sandwiches and did the pledge of allegiance which I may have forgotten GO AMERICA! It was really fun to learn about different cultures and to appreciate them more!

All in all this was a great week! We had lots of sun and lots of hail. Lots of solid new people and lots of people that we have now deleted their numbers. We found 6 new amis and had 5 amis at church!! Pretty exciting and it all just came from finally talking to the numbers in the phone we see all the time. Moral of this week is that often times we think we have already talked to everyone we know about the gospel and tried to share with people but really it may just not have been the right time and the next person that meets with the missionaries may be someone that you see ALL the time and have already talked to. You never know!

I LOVE being a missionary! I say it all the time but it is really the best and I am sooo happy ALL THE TIME!

Thank you for your love and support and your prayers!

Love,

Soeur Emily Johns

RECEIVING FLOWERS!

This is going to be one of my lamest weekly emails because I can’t figure out how to attach any photos and this week just wasn’t that exciting so forgive me in advance! Just know that the week after will HAVE to be better in comparison! (Thankfully I am late in updating and have the pictures she wanted to attach.)

This week I took my little bleu out porting for the first time!! Getting some good old door knocking in was much needed! It just reminded me sooo much of my days in Cholet... EVERY SINGLE DAY! I have really learned to enjoy it and look forward to seeing what is behind that door! We met a really nice woman who ended up talking with us for about 20 minutes just at her doorstep! It was a nice evening! It hasn’t rained a single time since Soeur Williams got here and so that makes everything a whole lot nicer when the sun is out!!

On Wednesday EVERY SINGLE rendezvous that we fixed got cancelled but we ended up having a pretty good day! It just goes to show that if we plan and work hard then we will be blessed. It still is a bit annoying how often people aren’t there for our lessons but oh well! I sure am learning patience! We got our first pastries together which was much needed!

While walking to the bus one morning a friendly German man with a basket full of flowers came up to us and just gave us LOTS of pretty flowers. Still not sure why but I wasn’t going to ask questions! He was just so jolly and happy! It brightened our morning!!

We taught a really cool family from Congo this week! We had only planned on seeing the teenage girl that we knew but her whole family was there and so we had a little African party! It was too fun! I sure love my Africans!

I have been sick since Soeur Williams got here! Like a reaaaally bad cold. My nose is no longer running out but now I can’t speak because I just cough and cough! I had to leave sacrament yesterday because I couldn’t stop and figured people rather hear the speakers then me hacking up my lungs! It was the service that I did for the day!

We decided to go through the phone and text everyone that we didn’t know... We now have a FULL week of rdvs with people that we just have a name! We will see how that works! We just needed to clean out our phone and figure out who was still interested in meeting with the missionaries!

I got my notice that I need to do my second year legality of being in France... I have been here in France for 10 months!! TIME FLIES FAST!!!

I love being a missionary soo much and really feel like I have changed for the better through this experience that I have had! I am lucky to be here at this time!

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Love

Sœur Emily Johns

Hello World

I said goodbye to my Tahitian and Hello to my bleu this past week... It was interesting!

Last Monday we had our last FHE... BUT it was with our Mexican Miracle Mauricio!!! He doesn’t have a French phone and so we can only email him and so as people with VERY limited email time you can imagine how hard it is to get ahold of him and to see him. But last week during emails we asked if he could meet us that night for an FHE and he for once quickly responded and met us! We had FHE with a Tahitian family so Soeur Tane was in Heaven! I was able to show off my Tahitian by saying hello and goodbye!! Languages are HARD! It was great and I love the people from the islands!

Then on Tuesday we had a dinner with a GREAT family here! LOTS of crepes and galettes which is an American girl in Frances dream! It was SUUUUPER long but very good! Sophie came with us which just makes everything that much more fun! They did a French hot dog... A gallette which is like a crepe with a thick sausage in it and rolled up and it is a hotdog! The little things that people do for me because I am American is so nice and thoughtful! We were sure to take photos with everything including a HUGE tennis shoe by Sophie’s apartment!

On Wednesday we rushed to the gare so we wouldn’t miss our trains to Cholet and to Paris... AND WE DIDNT!!! WOO HOO!!! Miracles happen I tell ya! SO I had my solo two hour ride to Paris. It was actually really nice! But a bit boring! I get to St Meri and was greeted by soo many of my favorite sisters!! Soeur Denning is training too so you can just imagine how great it was to see her! I really feel like the sisters in my mission are my BEST FRIENDS and I LOVE LOVE LOVE every time that I am able to see them! We had training with President to learn how to train a bit and then all the fresh out of the MTC missionaries came in. So of course we were all on one side of the room just staring at them trying to figure out which one was going to be our comp. I leaned over to my friend and said I get the quiet red head.... AND I DID!

Meet Soeur Cathryn Williams. 19 and my first Utah companion. She is from Syracuse Utah! Me and Soeur Denning and Elder Coloumbe all took our bleaus to the Eiffel Tower before our train and boy was I glad to be there with my girl Denning! LOVE HER!

The elders met us at the gare here in Rennes with pastries because they are just that amazing! We headed to our bus but there was a pretty creep drunk man there that wasn’t going to leave us alone so the elders stayed and distracted from us for 20 minutes until our bus came. SO welcome to Rennes Soeur Williams!! The past couple days have probably been a big blur for her. Her first lesson, street contacting, bus contacting etc...

 Well my comp is still alive so that is a good sign right??

It has been less than a week but I can do this for another 11 I think! By doing this I can realize how much I really know but also what I don’t know. I have impressed myself a bit in some aspects like wow I actually know what people are saying or in contacting really being comfortable. She is 19 and straight out of high school, has never been to college or lived away from home so that is pretty different. Also she is TERRIFIED of people. Like she wouldn’t go through a drive through at home because she would have to talk to people. It scares her sooo bad and then there is me who wants to be bff with everyone. So we will learn a lot together! She speaks very well so that is good we just have to get her to speak with people! I was VERY VERY proud of her yesterday at church when she talked to people. She may hate me for it but YOU HAVE TO TALK TO PEOPLE as a missionary so that is exactly what she did!

On Saturday we were supposed to have a rdv with Mauricio at 11...NO SHOW! Pretty bummed but went on with our day and 5 hours later we get a call from the church…HE WAS THERE! Got confused. Luckily right when we ran out of the apartment there was a bus and we were able to teach him!!

I am going to learn and grow a lot this transfer and I am excited! Our morning today started rough! We were leaving to get her a pastry and we got locked into our apartment. The door lock got stuck and we couldn’t get the key to close the door... SO waiting a couple of hours and getting the elders to come we were finally able to leave our apartment! We will maybe wait a bit for the pastry because it was probably a sign....

I am happy and doing well! I LOVE being a missionary and I am excited to help Soeur Williams love it just as much!! IT IS THE BEST THING EVER!!! Thanks again for ALL you all do!

I LOVE YOU

Love

Soeur Emily Johns

Picture of Neil L. Anderson when he was President of the mission, now an apostle. 

I am EXPECTING!!!

Since I have been on my mission two of my best friends have either had a baby or will be having a baby before I get home. Missing all of these births and exciting things has been rough but now I will join the group... I AM GOING TO BE A MOM!! A mission mom as in I am going to be training a brand new missionary straight out of the MTC! Training has been something that has intimidated me throughout my mission and not been something I want to do. But yesterday when the AP called... I had my first experience with morning sickness. PIT IN MY STOMACH! On Wednesday morning I am going to head to Paris to find out who my bleu is! I am excited to go to Paris and we will see how the rest goes! My current companion will be leaving Rennes and going to CHOLET!!! Can you believe it?! It is just like me and soeur stahly all over again! Leaving Cholet to someplace new and the comp in the new place leaves to go to Cholet! Soeur Tane will love it there!

We had our last district meeting this week which means DISTRICT PHOTOS!!! Being in Rennes has been good and I really like all of the missionaries! In Rennes we have two sets of elders and us. Only in our district we only have the zone leaders. The other set is the district leader of another district that includes Vannes! So on Tuesday we got a Rennes Missionary photo, the district photo and a double district photo!

Sophie had her birthday on Thursday and you bet we tried to make it special! WE had a little get together at the church with a few amis and other recent converts to celebrate her birth! We sang happy birthday in English, Chinese, German, Tahitian and French! WELCOME TO FRANCE the country of a million cultures!

On Wednesday we finally found the market here in Rennes. EVERY city in France has a weekly market but for whatever reason Soeur Tane had never even heard of it so you bet we changed that quickly! I love me a market filled with Africans and Arabs and that is exactly what we got! So many cool things and goood prices!!

This week was a good week! Soeur Tane LOVES McDonalds and has wanted to go soo bad since  she has come to France and so in honor of starting my 7 months to sexy and her leaving Rennes we went to McDo!! It wasn’t as traumatizing as I had thought having a happy meal in France... HAPPY MEAL BOXES and I are not the best of friends! It was good to indulge in a good old American burger.

I have officially been a missionary for 11 months today and the time has really flown by! I have loved the past 11 months of my life and I really know that this mission is the best thing I have done and will continue to bless my life forever! I have learned so much and have really never been happier!

Wish me luck with training and thank you again for all the love and support!!

LOVE,

Sœur Emily Johns

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