Week 26

Hey!!

Verrrrry interesting week. Hermana Dorian and I took Elder Ballard's challenge from conference, "Missionaries, if you want people to teach, you've got to talk to everyone"

Which results in weirdness.

So meet Vern. This guy that was pinning his kayak on top of his car and I stop my bike and say "Hey, is that a kayak!?" (I've found out one of my talents are not being afraid to be awkward...) Anyway, talk to him a bit, told him who we are and he was like "ooooh, you're not going to convert me. I'm Agnostic, I worship nature." Well... that's one we haven't heard of before. Then- the guy LIFTS UP HIS SHIRT and jiggles his hairy belly and says "Look, I'm an apeman. This is living proof we came from Apes." Oh my weird. Haha. It was crazy! But we did get a referral from him so... totally worth it. That same day we stopped this one India lady and she was like "I worship fire." ... wow. But turns out her brother was Mormon! Small world.

Antonio is so great!!!! We taught him at the church this time, and I was trying to explain to him the rules we have about having to have 3 girls in order to teach a guy. He was like "Why's that?" I'm like "I don't know, in case someone was crazy or something... it's for safety purposes." And then he flexes his arms and says "Well, I'm Hulk." It was hilarious cuz he's like this really skinny lil thing. But the lesson we had with him was awesome. He had a lot of questions and he's like "Sorry I have a lot of questions, I just take this really seriously." And we told him it's okay to have questions. I was like "It's totally okay, Joseph Smith had questions, but it's what you do with the questions that matter. You have to ask God." And he told us that he never thought about asking God questions- he just says prayers of gratitude (He's so awesome!) but he said he would. We called him last night and asked him how it went and he's like "It's so great! It's like I have a friend that I can talk with about anything." And this is why I'm on a mission. Oh my goodness he's so great.

Anyway, I love you!! Thank you for the emails. I know that the Lord loves us and wants the best for everyone of us!!! Even us weird ones ;) I know that He is inspiring this work. I know that this gospel is His gospel. This work is His work. And that we are all His children and He wants the best for us, all we have to do is ask.

I love you!!! Siempre!

Hermana Johnson

Week 25

It’s a short one this week, but a good one!

Okay!!! Mom! I've been thinking about ya'll all week. I get kinda homesick and lonely when I move to new areas. It just takes me some time to get established and stuff you know? Anyway, it's getting a lot better. I'm learning to trust the Lord and His plan for me. Conference was amazing! I loved M. Russell Ballard's talk Saturday night, you definitely need to look that up.

SO guess what!? I got to do some family history this week. I found this lady that like- her life was super hard and her husband died and then she remarried to someone who's wife died... what!? It's on Grandpa Gale's side... you can look up stories on family search did you know that!? I also found out that one of our ancestors did 187 temple names in the ST George temple! I always wondered why I loved that temple so much. So my invitation to ya'll is to just go and look up family search this week! It takes five minutes but it will literally change your life. Seriously! You gotta try it!!

Things are great in the area. We taught Antonio again, and he is super prepared!!! We taught him the plan of salvation- which was really cool to him because both his parents died. He's only 23, and he's lived in the states for five years. I'll keep you updated on him :)

I'm just looking for opportunities to exercise more faith, I know that God always grants us according to our faith. I'm loving the bikes. Hermana Dorian and I are going to try and talk to like- everyone again, which we've kind of stopped doing a little since the whole "member missionary" push. But I know big things are coming.

Mom, you are seriously the most inspiring person in my life. I'm so SO grateful for you and for all that you've taught me. I just feel like God put you in my life cuz you would love me no matter what, and you have no idea how much that love has changed me. 

Dad and Grandpa are for sure here with me! I've met a lot of their Hispanic friends that they've wanted me to convert :) Seriously, ever awesome investigator I'm like "Dad would be best friends with these guys." I know that angels are with us. 

Also, thank you for the handwritten letter you sent me! Give Greg a hug for me and tell him thanks for everything. He is such a great example of patience and trusting in the Lord. He really has taught me so much. Tell him he can write me anytime he wants :) 

Give Brant a birthday pinch for me!!! That kid is growing up way too fast. :) 

I love you!!! Something I've learned here on the mission- or I'm learning- is to trust in the Lord and His plan. He wants us to trust Him. If things aren't going the way you planned, turn toward God and keep just trusting in Him, and He will deliver you out of bondage!

Love you!

Hermana Johnson

Week 24

Heeey!!!!

So like- transfers are kind of a big deal. It's like ending your mission in one area and moving on to the next. It was literally so hard. We went and saw a few of our members so I could say goodbye and it was so hard. Hna Veliz, one of our members we've been working with, started crying! I was like "Don't do this to me!!!" but hey... it made me feel loved. We had a lot of miracles happen my last few days there and from what I hear they're still going on. Hermano Rivas, a husband of one of our members, FINALLY sat down and listened to us. We taught him about not procrastinating the day of repentance, and he's like "Okay, I'm ready to listen to you all now." He's totally going to get baptized here soon. We also taught one of our less-actives, Moroni, who's a cute-awkward 17 year old that's had a really hard life, and taught him about repentance and the redeeming power of the Atonement. And now he's coming back to church! It's so cool. Oh my gosh I'm going to miss Missouri City so much! I LOVED it!

The Baptism was great!!! It is literally one of the most touching things to watch a baptism. I talked to QuiQue's dad afterwards and I'm like "How do you feel!?" He's like "I feel like a burning in my heart... like a warm burning. It feels good." It made me so happy. He was so feeling like he wasn't worthy or prepared. And he got to baptized and confirm his son. It's so awesome what the Atonement can do.

Okay, so transfer meeting..... Okay. So you're never ever ever going to guess who my new comapnion is. HERMANA DORIAN!!! My comp from the MTC. No joke. No lie. Not kidding one bit. That NEVER or hardly ever happens. Ever. So yeah, we're in Houston 9 aka Ghetto-ish with a billion apartments and hardly anyone to teach YET. But they'll come. It's been really cool to see how much our spanish has improved since the MTC. The first time we prayed together in spanish we were like WHOAA!! I think it's going to be a great transfer and I'll probably be here for a little (hopefully... we'll see...) Hermana Kennedy - my last companion, goes home next transfer and she's had 3 areas her WHOLE MISSION. Ask me how many I've had. In 4 transfers. 3. But I'm not complaining. I think the Lord just likes to give me chances to adapt to change and start over. So ... it'll be good. The members I've met in H9 are great so far!

Oh PS- I'm in a bike area again. YEEEEESSS!! I was riding one day and the roads were really wet, so I go to turn and the bike decided to do it's own thing! So I got a really cool cut on my elbow! This guy like stopped his car and ran out to help me. He brought like tisues and waterbottles and was like "Don't move! We're going to clean you up." It was the sweetest thing ever. His name was Michael. Angels really are watchin out for us.

We met this really really prepared guy named Antonio, he's one of the friends of our members. He was like "Why are there so many churches? I just want to know what's true. I just feel like time is running out before the second coming of the Lord." I'm just like "They EXIST!!" Honest seekers of truth. It's awesome.

Pues dejame saber como esta todo. LES AMO!!! Muchisimo!! Yo se que las oraciones siempre estan contestado! Solomente tenemos que hacerlo!!

Love you!!!!!! Forever!!!!

Hermana Johnson