Week 17

I'M STAYING IN MISSOURI CITY!! So SO happy. I was all but tramautized from having to leave so soon after my first area, but we're all staying here, the trio is sticking together, and boy do the members love us! We were at a ward activity and our relief society president came up and asked if we could talk to her niece, Erica, who was there and investigating the church. She said "I just feel like you need to talk to her." And of course we're like "Yeah!" and so we all go into a little room and just talked to her. Just testified. Didn't even do much but invited her to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. And so we all kneeled right then and there and she's like "Okay, I'm getting baptized." It was awesome!! The Spirit does everything. I love being part of this work.


K also, okay. SO much to tell you. I just want to tell you about this guy we have named Rudy. He's like "been saved by Jesus" as he would put it. Speaks english and spanish, and holy cow. We just went over and talked to him this week and he just talked to us forever about how much he loves Jesus Christ. Like literally he was the worst of the worst and now he's got pictures and crosses all over his house and he's so much happier. He's just got the Southern-ness in him too. He's like "You mormon's are all so HUMBLE. And I can see Jesus in you." And then he asked why only the young people were out preaching the word. And something about how people of all ages should be preaching the good word. Haha. He's the best. Just a big guy with a big o' heart. He's going to be a bishop one day. I just want him to read the Book of Mormon so bad cuz he LOVES the bible. Yay for southern Bible-lovers!


Also, Erica, who we had our little experience with, got married! And she's getting baptized next week! Isn't that the best!? I'll have to send you pictures. They had a little wedding outside and it was super cute.


Mom, thank you for your example. I use it all the time. We have a member in our ward that bless her heart has had like- the roughest marriages in her life and she just feels sad that she has to do everything solo. It's hard! We shared with her Helaman 5:12 and just talked about how we need to build our foundation on Christ, and if we do we can get through the hard things, even if we feel alone. I told her about you and how you were such a great example to me of doing that. I think it really helped her, I hope so at least. Life just isn't easy! But the awesome thing is that it can be happy and fufilling no matter what! I just love that. The gospel really does bring all the sincere, true happiness in the world. And hope!


I'm learning so much about faith, hope, and the Lord's timing. We have so many investigators that are so close, but they just need to get married! And we just need to have faith that the Lord will make it happen somehow, that the hearts of the men in this area will be softened! Praying for that.


How's Grandma Gale doing? We have an 87 year old in our ward "mama hope" that reminds me so much of her. Just so happy and cute and old. Haha. I love our ward so much! Yesterday this lady told me that I have a double in Columbia, where she's from. Like- my face is the same as her face. Yes!!!! I knew I had a twin somewhere....


It's been amazing to see how the gospel changes people's lives. I know that God answers prayers. I know that He is on our side and is rooting for us to succeed. He is the perfect parent, patient, kind, and loving. He sees the best in us, even when we can't see it in ourselves. He knows what's best for us in the long run. I think about one of our investigators who has a daughter who's slowly just dying. It's a condition in her brain that she got when she was 14 and ever since has just been slowly decaying. It's so hard to see her like that, and I'm sure it's so hard for her mom. But it's like- when we truely know who God is and trust Him, we know that every hard time or "Wilderness" he puts us through is going to draw us closer to Him in the end. I think of that everytime I see her, how that's helped her mom become more like the Savior and more softened to hear the message that we have for her.


Love you all! I know the church is true with all the energy of my soul! Jesus Christ lives! And He loves us!


Love you .... FOREVER!


Hermana Johnson

Week 16

Mom Mom Mom!

How are you!? Ooooh my goodness I love you! I think about you all every single day. I have a little picture of our family on my study desk and I look at it every day and it reminds me of how much I love you and how blessed I am to have such an amazing family.

Brant's a hunk now eh? Well, that doesn't surprise me, he always has been. It's so weird how he's growing up! Almost 15- that's like- practically an adult! I hope he's doing so great. Glad he danced with all the girls. It seemed like yesterday that we were dancing in the basement preparing him for his first stake dance. Haha, good times. Sometimes I tell my companions about the things that Brant and I would say to each other and they're like "He's so funny! We want to meet him!" I'm like- I know right? I have the coolest little brother ever!



How'd your lesson on taking on the name of Christ go? I want to know about it! And how's the school? It's weird to think it will look different when I come back! And that Gales will be different! How does it look? You'll have to send me pictures!



The activity you had sounded so cool! I LOVE the temple. We were going to go this week but no one could take us... I hear there's a new video!? What!? You'll have to tell me about it!



That's super cool about the missionary work fireside. We're trying to push to work more with the members here too... everything's like- all about missionary work here I feel like I'm like "Is this just cuz I'm a missionary now or has it always been like this and I haven't noticed it?"



Okay, little vent- not vent- but disagreement that I feel like I need to voice to someone? Okay. So we pretty much go over to members and say "We need your help. It's your responsibility to do missionary work. We can't knock on doors anymore. You need to do be finding people." Which is, really true. We can't do it without the members and the longer I'm out here the more I feel it. But I feel like it's not something that you should do out of your "duty". Yes it is your duty, but if you go with the "dragging your feet" attitude about it and you're only doing it because someone told you to- well, you probably aren't going to get the right results. Something that I LOVED about the first presidency broadcast on missionary work was that this is a labor of love. That our responsibility is, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, meaning that we "lift up the hands that hang down and strength feeble knees", that we develop charity so that we can become like Him. And I don't know about you, but I think for me this gospel and the knowlege that I have of a loving Heavenly Father, has lifted me in ways that nothing else could. Has taken me out of the pit of hopelessness. It's such a blessing! And we treat sharing the gospel like it's a chore. It's sometimes hard and it's sometimes scary, but if we extend the invitation out of love as opposed to "Duty", then we don't need to worry because "charity never faileth". It's like having the cure for cancer or something and never telling anyone about it. "Listen! We have the fullness of the gospel! The priesthood power of God is on the earth! Come be healed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ!" I just refuse to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about anything other than love. Anyway... I'm just not a big fan of how we're going about it right now... and I just wanted to tell someone. Haha.



We've had some great experiences this week! We have a lot of women that have the light of a testimony of Christ in their eyes- but ... their husbands don't want to get married so they can't be baptized! It's the most frustrating thing in the world! I'm like- daaah men, just get married already!



I know this church is true! I know that when we're at our lowest of lows that there's someone that knows exactly how we feel and exactly how to help us get out of it! I know that we are never alone, and that there's nothing, no trial or sickness that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can't heal. God lives! He loves us! He's still guiding us through a living prophet today!



I love you! Praying for you! Keep being amazing!

Hermana Johnson

Week 15

Hey Ya'll
This week has been CRAZY. Amazing. We saw a lot of miracles.
We have a member named Esperanza, but everyone calls her "Mama Hope" or "Abuelita" (Little grandma). She's 87 years old and she wants to learn english so we go over once a week for an hour and teach her. She's my hero. And she has this cute little walker that she takes with her everywhere that she calls her "cadilac" Haha. She's hilarious.
So Hermana Kennedy was telling her to say some things in english and obviously she's not like- the best at it yet cuz she's still learning! But it was really cool. Hermana Kennedy told her to say "Somos Hijas de Dios" in english and Mama Hope says "We are daughters of God." The spirit hit was so strong! The four of us- so different, we don't really even speak the same language and we're not the same age or anything, but we are daughters of God. All of us. It was awesome!
So we do these little things called "English fasts" I think I've told you about them... we just go days at a time without speaking any english. This week we just did it for two days, but everyday we "fasted" with a specific purpose. One day we fasted to know the needs of our investigators, and with every lesson we had that day, our investigators told us their concerns! The other day we fasted to find new investigators. Miracle. We were just walking around because we had 20 minutes to kill before an appointment with a member, and Hermana Kennedy looks at a house and says "That house looks Hispanic. Let's go knock on it." And so we went up on the porch and there was a little door decoration that said "Este hogar es Catolica" and so we just laugh and knocked on the door and lo and behold the lady was super interested in hearing more about the Gospel. That was the only door that we knocked that day- we hardly ever knock random doors, but the Lord blessed us with an answer to our prayers! It was literally a miracle.
We also had interviews with President Ashton this week. We only had like- five minutes, but it was really good. President said my spanish was really good- which was really good to hear. Really good. And we just talked about how people have different talents and the Lord uses us in different ways.
Mom, I just feel like- like I was put on this earth to be a missionary. And that scares me! Like I'm like- I'm not very good at it yet! But I know that the Lord has been helping me SO much and that He is blessing this work. I just get overwhelmed really easy. I just want to have mind-blowing life-changing lessons every lesson. Haha. I just want to be all that God wants me to be. I just want people to have this gospel and to understand their relationship with God.
Thanks for the little pick-me-up last week, it helped me a lot. I go through these phases where I'm like "sinning is dumb. I want to be perfect. I'm not going to sin anymore or do anything wrong ever." Weeeeeelll... that doesn't work. Like- ever. But it's comforting to know that the Lord loves us and He wants to bless us. It doesn't matter if we're not perfect, in fact, he doesn't expect us to. He just wants us to come to him and to "seguir adelante" to press forward and just trust him. "Believe his word and trust his grace". I guess I've just learned to get over trying to be perfect and trust in the grace of God that He'll make me enough because there is NO way I could be enough on my own. And if we're with an honest heart trying to do our best, the Lord knows, and He helps us.
Well, love you! I am doing well. The church is true!
Hermana Johnson

Week 14

Well hellllloooo!

This week has been ... wow. Full. Okay first of all, my companions are great. And they are weird. Like- we have the same sense of humor and it's the best. This week we may or may not have dressed up as hillbillies and did a talk-show about how to talk like Texans one night... So great.

Also! Good news! Because we're in a trio and only have two beds, I have been taking on the role as the "middle child" and volunteered to sleep on a little fu-ton on the floor. Aka, I might as well have slept on the floor, it was pretty much nothing. But this week I got a bed! We're on little bunk-beds so my childhood dreams have been fulfilled of sleeping on the top bunk. Love it. The man that came and helped us set it up's name is Elder Nilson, and he told us his re-conversion story. That he had been inactive for 20 years or something like that and the bishop or someone showed up at his house with the elders one day and asked him if he would help with scouting. Long story short, he quit smoking and drinking and cleaned up his life and now he's on a mission! The Lord works in so many ways. He told us the importance of keeping our apartment clean and how the Spirit dwells in clean houses. That we needed to make our apartment like a temple, because that's where we'll receive revelation. It was super powerful and we're totally committed to do it. We need all the help from the Spirit we can get.

The man who's wife works at the temple- they're the Martinez family. Mom, they are my favorite! I just LOVE them! They left to Mexico this week for a week so we didn't get to see them at all. It was so sad! Every day we're like "We miss them so bad!" But we did get to go see them last night. They bought us little bracelets from Mexico and some dulces. It was so nice! They were like "We were thinking of you all the whole time!" It was so sweet. We didn't really have time to teach a lesson- but it's been so cool to see the change in Hermano Martinez's eyes. There is just light. That has been one of my favorite things in the mission so far, is to see light fill the eyes of the people. I love it. This is the Lord's work!

We also have another family that I just love- the Torres family. There are like 15 of them that live all together in one big trailer neighborhood. They are some of the most humble people I have ever met. We shared a short scripture with Mariana - Alma 7:11-12 and just testified of the Atonement. And then we asked her if she would say the closing prayer. She's like "I can't! I feel like I'm going to cry!" She's SO sensitive to the Spirit. I know she's going to be baptized on day. Most people's problems are they have to convince their "husbands" to get married to them first. Those husbands....

I love it here. I wish I was more. I wish I could do more for the Lord. But I pray that what I have and who I am is enough for Him right now. Alma 29:1-4

Gotta go! I sure love you!

Hermana Johnson

Week 13

Hey mom :)

So this week was crazy, so fun. My companions are HILARIOUS. We have so much fun. Hermana Moberly (she's the new one) is from California and she's 19, and Hermana Kennedy is from Idaho and she's been out a little over a year. Our area is a little (okay, a lot) more ghetto than my last area- but hermana Kennedy says it's like the nicest area she's been in her whole mission. I'm like- ooooh I was so spoiled with my first area. Haha.

Oh I have so much to tell you! Mom, miracles happen. We have this man that didn't want to take the lessons for forever and finally he is. His wife works at the temple, and as we testified about how important the priesthood is and the covenants that we have of eternal families we were like- all crying. The Lord knows him and wants that for him and his family.

Okay. I just want to tell you my epiphany of the week. The scriptures are awesome! I was reading (in Spanish...) about Nephi telling his brothers when they were in the wilderness about Moses and the people of Israel. He was like "Hey! That was just like us!" There's always something we can relate to in the scriptures.

I was reading in 2 Nephi 3 and Lehi I think it was is talking about how weak they are in writing. He's like "We're so weak but the Lord makes our words strong!" That is exactly how I feel. I feel like my words are so weak. That I'm so weak. That I'm not perfect at all, but my weaknesses don't matter. This is why I know this is the Lord's work. Because the words we say aren't really that amazing. Nothing we do is really all that grand. But the Spirit truly does carry the truth to the hearts of the children of men. The Lord makes our words strong. That's the miracle of this work. I love it.

Okay, so I ate oyster this week! From El Salvador. It was so slimy and weird. Haha. Also, we had this lady that needed her lawn cut but her lawnmower was broken. So we drove to a member's house a mile away and got a lawnmower and walked it back. It must have looked really weird but.. hey! It was awesome.

Also we didn't speak any English for like 4 days. It was crazy! We called it an "English fast" to find new investigators. Yeah. It was awesome. My Spanish is coming! Slowly but surely. I need to battle the battle of perfectionism. In Spanish and in teaching and in just... realizing I'm not perfect and not being afraid of making mistakes.

Mom, I can't tell you how much I love you! You're example and your love has helped me more than anything to know and remember how much God loves me and what He thinks about me. Mom, thank you so much for your unconditional love for me. It has shaped me into who I am. Thanks so much for your emails. I seriously have so much to tell you every week and I never have time! Just know I love you all and I think about you and I'm praying for you!



Love you forever!





Hermana Johnson