Going to Inwood!

Hello Family!!

Talking to you yesterday was the best Christmas present I ever could have asked for!! It was so nice to see my favorite familiar faces and hear your voices:) Thanks for the laughs and smiles and love! 

I'm getting transferred to Inwood which is just the neighboring area right above Harlem:) My new companion will be Sister Nielson who is actually one of the other sisters in my MTC district! So it will be fun, 6 months later, to be with each other again!:) Since I leave tomorrow, most of my day so far has included packing and eating Christmas candy... Also, Sister Israelsen has been called to be a trainer:) I'm excited for her and know she will do an amazing job. She and her new companion will take good care of Harlem I'm sure:)

So crazy miracle story! Back up to last sunday... Jacob was ordained a deacon and received the priesthood! Wahoo!!! Then after church his stomach hurt really bad and they took him to the hospital and he ended up having appendicitis!! We let our bishop know, and he and two other men from the ward went up to the hospital to give Jacob a priesthood blessing. Their reaction time was so fast! Our ward is seriously amazing:) They gave Jacob a blessing on the way in to the surgery, and the surgery went well! We visited them in the hospital the next day and he was doing great with high spirits and a smile:) This Christmas Sunday, Jacob was able to use his priesthood to bless the ward as he helped pass the sacrament for the first time. It was so wonderful and he loved it! I felt like a proud parent and couldn't stop smiling:)

We have done lots of service projects lately and I love it! On Tuesday we went to Central Park with a ton of other missionaries, and we racked leaves for 3 hours! It was so much fun and I loved it!! We bagged so many leaves it was insane! We also handed out free school supplies later that day and sung Christmas songs on the street corner. On Friday I was on a split with Hermana Nelson and we did the best service ever!! We visited a random investigator we've just taught a few times and when we got there and she had a paint brush in her hand! So after a bit of asking and pretty much begging, she finally agreed to let us help her clean and paint! So I fulfilled all my missionary dreams of being able to help someone paint! It was a Christmas miracle:)

Christmas Day was wonderful:) We woke up early and made waffles and opened presents! Then we did our studies and went to church:) I love my Harlem 1st Ward! We spent most of the day visiting members, less actives, and others who we felt could use a Christmas visit. It was so nice to run around the city brightening others day! We had lots of cookies, treats, and candy that we handed out to random people. For a little bit we went with some Elders and went caroling back and forth on the Subway train. That's what made it a true Christmas in the city;) I was in heaven and seriously had so much fun singing, smiling, and giving out pass along cards to people on the train!

I am so grateful for my Savior, and I'm grateful for the life that he both lived and gave for each one of us. We celebrate his birth because of his life. He is our perfect example and he is our friend. I know Christ is always there to lift us up when we need it:) I'm grateful for the silent and Holy night when Christ was born. I'm grateful for the angels that sang praises at his birth. I'm grateful for the humble shepherds who were there to welcome Christ into the world. And I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father that he gave us the precious gift of our Savior - the Light and Life of the World!!

I love you all and hope you had a Merry Christmas!:)

Love, Sister Johnson

Me and my cute companion and roommates!:)

Me and my cute companion

Helping our friend paint!:)

Helping our friend paint!:)

Helping our friend paint!:)

Christmas morning:)

Christmas morning:)

Surprise! :)

Hello Family!!

SURPRISE!! Our Preparation Day is now on Monday! Crazy huh! 

We had our mission wide Christmas Devotional on Friday which was wonderful! It was so fun to see missionary friends and companions and roommates:) It was upstate in Ossining which was beautiful:) The spirit of Christmas is absolutely wonderful:) I felt so much peace and joy during our meeting. I am grateful for this time that we have to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. He came so humbly and simply. He gave everything he had and expected nothing in return. And that's what Christmas is really about! It's about giving of ourselves and giving to others! Giving is the best feeling:) 

What stuck out to me the most in all the Christmas hymns we sang is that so many are about angels singing and praising the birth of Christ! And guess who those angels in heaven were when Christ was born?? We were! That was us singing up there in heaven when our Savior was born because we knew God's plan and we knew that little baby Jesus was born to be our Savior and friend:) Realizing that in a room of powerful missionaries singing was amazing! We were singing then and we're singing now! Enjoy this happy time of year where we can listen to Christmas music because it's the best ever!! We had a big Christmas lunch with everyone in the mission and we took some pictures:) It was so amazing and so fun to be there with everyone. I sure am lucky to be here on a mission!

We had real snow! It's already melted again... but waking up to snow was so magical! I hope it snows lots more this week!!:)

I'm so glad I have this time to be in New York during Christmas:) What a magical place to be during Christmas! We've already seen some amazing Christmas miracles! One is that a less active member who we have taught for a long time has changed so much! She actually WANTED to come to church and she brought her daughter! Its been amazing to see how much the gospel has changed her. She really wasn't super happy with us at first, and going was sometimes tough, but she has opened up so much more, likes having us come, and came to church! Miracle! Jacob also received the priesthood! Wahoo! And we received a MEMBER REFERRAL which has been one of our goals this whole time me and Sister Israelsen have been together. And it's from a member who isn't even in our ward anymore (they moved to Brooklyn) but who visit occasionally! It's amazing how Heavenly Father works and how sometimes blessings really do come in different ways then we expect it:) 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and friend. I am grateful for His love and for the love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. They know us and love us individually:) Continue to love and serve! As you give of yourself you'll be able to feel the Christmas spirit even more! Make it a magical week and go find your Christmas miracle:) 

Love, Sister Johnson

ps Here are pictures of the Rockefeller Center, Giant Tree, and Ice Skating Rink:)

Baptism!!

Hello Family!

Straight to the good stuff - JACOB AND SAMANTHA WERE BAPTIZED!!! Saturday was the happiest and best day of my life! Everything in our program went perfectly, our wonderful ward was very supportive, I got to play my flute which was so nice, and I really felt so much love and joy during the service:) Seeing a baptism is always so magical to me, and especially with these two it was a special moment. I'll never forget the image of all the little ward kids gathered around the font, me and Sister Israelsen sitting on both sides of Daisy watching, and just the quiet reverence and sound of the water as they went down and came back up clean and brand new. I could feel the spirit as they were baptized and I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them so much and are so proud of them for taking this step. 

We helped them afterwards and when we opened the baptism door Samantha was shivering a ton because she said the water was freezing haha! Oops! We didn't even check the temperature, we just assumed it was warm haha;) But there's always some sort of funny story at baptisms right;) And even through the shivers they were so happy and couldnt stop smiling!:) As a family they went up to bear their sweet and simple testimonies about how they're grateful for the church, their family, and everyone that came. What touched me the most was what Daisy said. She said that the best way to describe her feelings is that "we're finally home." They're home. Tears filled my eyes as I heard her say that:) This gospel is true and this is where we can truly feel God's love. I feel so blessed to have helped them come home and now be a part of their family forever. Singing Families Can Be Together Forever with them at the end was special too, knowing that we are all part of God's family and we can all live together forever because of Jesus Christ. I love this sweet family, I love my Savior, I love the joy this gospel brings and the peace we can feel, and I love my Heavenly Father:)

Saturday night we had our ward Christmas party which was AMAZING! We had a little nativity put on by the primary which was adorable:) Samantha was the angel. Then we went upstairs and ate delicious food as always. They made around 600 homemade empanadas! What?! They were so good and they gave us tons of extras to take home:) I love my ward so much! We have the most amazing members who are so willing to serve, go the extra mile, and I want to be their friends forever!:)

Now for the rest of the week... on Friday we helped a less active member redecorate her tree (her husband tried but she didn't like it so we redid it haha;) ) and it meant the world to her! She was so so happy, so I would like to thank Mom for teaching me how to nicely decorate a Christmas tree haha! Then on Sunday, oh boy. First of all they received the Gift of the Holy Ghost so that was super wonderful! Yay! But Sunday night we were just riding on the bus and I was standing in front of a little family talking to them, and then all of a sudden the little girl threw up on me!! Haha what?! I thought it was kind of hilarious. Super nasty and I felt so bad for the poor little girl, but I still keep laughing about it haha! Her mom felt terrible and got wipes to wipe me down and clean my coat. But yeah, that was crazy. And I washed my coat today so no worries:)

We helped a cute new family move in to our ward on Monday which was so much fun! Service is the best! Keep finding ways to Light the World, because really it just ends up lighting your world and making you feel better!!:) Also we had our first little bit of snow Sunday night, but it wasn't enough to stick!

I'm so grateful for this time to serve as a missionary:) The joy I've felt especially from Jacob and Samantha's baptism, that pure joy that is so great and full, doesn't even compare to the joy and love that Heavenly Father feels and has for each one of us when we take steps to come closer to Him. He loves us and has made it possible for us all to live with Him again. I know it's true, I love Him, and I love His plan!

I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and love:) Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

1-4 Baptism Pictures!:)

5-6 Christmas Party Nativity

 Helping the new family move in!

I love my family!

Hello Family!:)

Happy December!! Isn't that so weird? It's extra weird/way nice cause it's December and we still haven't had snow! Which is fine by me:) I know I talk about the weather a lot... but the weather is still pretty nice here! Not too cold yet:) 

On Thursday we had zone conference which was amazing as always:) One cool thing I liked was about prayer and goals. When we have goals we need to tell Heavenly Father about it in prayer so he has something to help us with. Also we have today to change someone's eternity! (#LightTheWorld).

Updates on our sweet family we are teaching! Jacob and Samantha are getting baptized on Saturday so we're just 3 days away from the best day of my life!!:) They had their baptism interview last night and everything went great! They're so cute and ready to take this step as a family:) Daisy is so supportive and so excited! She wants this for her and her family so bad. I love them so much! Today we actually just got back from going to the Natural History Museum with them which was so fun! They're going to be our best friends/family forever!:)

Jacob is 12 and he's so prepared. He's smart and wants to understand everything:) He asks great questions and he quietly soaks it all in. Whenever we ask him to say the prayer he will sit and think about it for a second like he's preparing himself to pray and then he says he will do it:) He's going to be a wonderful little priesthood holder:)

Samantha is 10 and she is so sweet and full of love. She is willing to do anything she is supposed to do:) She loves primary and loves reading the Book of Mormon. She always gives us hugs and always has a smile on her face:) She always wants to read, and volunteers to say every prayer we have!

Sweet little Julian is 7 years old. He's full of energy and loves pictures and reading the scriptures:) The highlight of our lesson on Monday was that HE SAID HIS FIRST PRAYER!! Since the first time we taught them, our goal has secretly been to get Julian to pray. Usually he says no, but on Monday he decided to do it! We didn't even ask him he just said "I'll do it." We were all shocked! He said the prayer and I couldn't stop smiling! I don't know if I've ever felt that much pure joy:) I felt like a proud parent and he's not even my kid haha! So I can only imagine how happy Heavenly Father was to hear sweet little Julian say a prayer:)

I'm so grateful for this miracle and opportunity I've had to see this sweet family take these steps towards becoming an eternal family! The gospel is simple and we all need it. Families are central to God's plan, and I'm so grateful for this family, my family, and my Heavenly family:)

I love you all! Make it a great week:)

Love, Sister Johnson

Light The World :)

Hello Family!!

This week was the best week ever! So many miracles and exciting things are happening!! Rewind back to Thanksgiving which seems like forever ago! We did an amazing service project in the morning. There's a lady named Sister Mary, and every year she spends hours and days creating a huge fancy meal to give away to people. 35 years ago or so, she fed 8 people Thanksgiving dinner. This Thanksgiving she prepared food for 2200 people! We helped serve and get to know people on the streets of Harlem, New York as they waited in line to get their fancy Thanksgiving dinner. It was an amazing experience and such a cool way to spend my first Thanksgiving in NY! Then we went to the senior couple missionaries in our ward and ate dinner with them and some of their family which was really fun! They gave us tons of left overs, and a week later we're still eating them haha! We really are living in Thanksgiving daily;)

The most exciting news is that Jacob (12) and Samantha (10), 2 of the 3 kids we're working with that are kids of our less active member Daisy, will be baptized on December 10!!! I love them so much:) We're so lucky and so excited to be working with them:) It really is my little Harlem miracle to have this family be led to us since just two and a half weeks ago she showed up at church for the first time.

Family Home Evening is the best! I appreciate it even more now as a missionary:) On Monday we had FHE with two families and both were a miracle:) We really wanted to get members involved in it, and for one fhe we texted 4 different families and no one could do it. But then Monday morning the first member we texted texted back and said she could do it! Wahoo!! So our first Family Home Evening was with the Nieves family! (Daisy and her kids). We picked them up and walked two blocks to a members house. We had a lesson on the 10 commandments and learned all the finger signs to help them remember and played a game with it! We sang songs and ate treats and it was the best family home evening ever! Then our second family was the Marks. They're less active as well and they loved the commandment hand signs and treats too:) The member who came with us lives right down the street from them and they loved meeting her so it was perfect!:)

Tomorrow, December 1 (I can't even believe it's already December!!), is the official first day of the Christmas Initiative to #LightTheWorld! If you haven't watched the video, go watch it - mormon.org - and do what it challenges! We can be like Jesus Christ in so many simple ways! It's not as hard as it seems to be like Him, so this Christmas season, commit to serve someone every day like Christ did!:) It takes 21 days to create a habit, so do it for 25! I promise as you find ways to serve and be like Christ, it will strengthen your faith and change your life forever!!

I love you all! Continue to pray, and pray for ways you can serve those around you:) There's power in asking, so ask for a missionary experience or service opportunity! We learned in church that asking doesn't change His mind, it opens the door to giving us all the blessings that He wants to give us. So simply ask and be believing, and miracles will happen! Now get out there and #LightTheWorld;)

Love, Sister Johnson

Straight outta Harlem :)

Thanksgiving with the Dransfields and their family. This is on top of their building.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello Family!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I hope you know how grateful I am for all your love, support, and prayers! I hope you eat delicious pie and yummy stuffing and fulfill all your wildest turkey dreams:) But really, I am so grateful for YOU!! 

Miracle of the week:) Guess how many investigators we had at church on Sunday?! Just guess... :) 6!!! Wow! And with our less actives as well, we had 11 people that we're working with at church! Is that not a Thanksgiving miracle or what?! We had our lovely family - Daisy and her 3 kids. Then we had our returning member Nichole and her boyfriend Eke (AK) come which was the best ever!! Another investigator and her son came, and then 3 other members we're working with came! So awesome!!

This week it was COLD! It's officially become cold weather. You go outside and it's not that bad... and then the WIND comes, and the wind is freezing!! It really does cut through your clothes haha! But my warm clothes are doing their job and keeping me warm so it's okay. I'll probably just be a wuss for the next 4 months while it's cold;) But I'll still enjoy it at the same time!

I am so grateful for this time to be a missionary here in New York! I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ! I know this gospel can change lives, and I'm grateful for the chance I have to be a part of His work:) I know Heavenly Father loves each one of us and he has a plan for us. Not only has he shown us the outline of his plan, but he's given us the steps we need to take to return to live with him. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, and that through him we can reach our goals. Through Christ we can be happy and we can live with our Father and our families forever! I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and his faith as he trusted in the Lord and restored the gospel to the earth. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the powerful witness it is of God's love and guidance on the earth today! I am so grateful for the peace, comfort, and guidance that comes from the Holy Ghost so that we can know for ourselves that this gospel is true!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and may we all "live in Thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which He doth bestow upon us." (Alma 34:38)

Love, Sister Johnson

PS. I loved getting little notes from everyone. Tell the family I say 'Hi' and thank you so much!

PPS If you see Daniel or Janie Harvey - tell them that Daniel was right and that everyone really does fold their pizza in half to eat it!

Transfer #4

Hello Family!

Transfer #4 in Harlem! Wahoo! I'm so happy I get to spend another transfer in Harlem with Sister Israelsen!

This week was a week of less active miracles!! A huge focus for me and Sister Israelsen has been to strengthen our ward and our less active members. We currently have a list of 32 less active members that we've met with and are trying to continue to work with! And that's not including the 11 kids, 6 of which are over the age of 8 and haven't been baptized, non-member spouces, and family members that may be interested! And there's still more out there we need to find! So we've got our work cut out for us with our less-active members and their families!:)

One of our returning members (because we won't let her be "less active" anymore!) is awesome and so solid! We've met with her twice and she is amazing! Her name is Nichole:) Side note: She told us the other night that the one commandment she's always kept since primary was tithing. What?! She still has her tithing set aside! So she's awesome. But what was amazing is the love that we have for her and the spirit we felt with her. We had a lesson planned, but as soon as we started talking to her we realized what we planned was not what she needed. We ended up talking about prayer and it was so wonderful! She was able to pray with us after not praying for a little while and she said she felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Heavenly Father is there and he wants to hear from us! It was so amazing to have that much love for her that nothing else mattered but us helping her come closer to Jesus Christ and helping her feel Heavenly Father's love for her.

Returning member miracle number 2! On Sunday a less active who hadn't come to church for a long time showed up to church with her daughter! We talked to her and set a time to meet with them. Last night we met with Daisy and her three kids Jacob, Samantha, and Julian. We taught the Restoration using the pamphlet and pictures. It was so simple and as we taught about the priesthood and baptism Samantha said she wanted to be baptized! Together as a family they're going to read the Book of Mormon and pray, and Samantha and Jacob are now preparing to be baptized! 

We also found three more less actives that we've been trying to meet with for a while, but we finally met with them and set times to continue to see them and their families! It's so amazing to see the miracles that Heavenly Father is sending our way. I wish I could tell you about every single one of these lost sheep we're bringing back to the fold. There are families, couples, and individuals that we're so excited to keep working with! I love them all and know that Heavenly Father cares so deeply about each one of them and all of us! He loves you!! So never forget that!

The lesson of the week is to have faith and hope! Faith is trust. We have to believe in Heavenly Father enough to trust Him. That's how we create a real friendship with Him. Then we must have hope, which is believing and expecting. When we have hope we not only believe good things can happen, but we know that through Christ good things WILL happen! Another thing is that we need to be able to see progress and rename it. You can't have a seed and then still call it a seed when it's grown into a giant tree! If you don't see the progress in yourself or in others and rename it, then you're missing the point of the Atonement! There is always change and we need to accept and recognize that or we're holding ourselves back from what we can become.

I love you all! Keep loving and have hope! God is good and miracles do happen! The church is amazing and brings the greatest joy and the best book in the whole world is the Book of Mormon! Make it a great week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Johnson

This picture was sent from a member

True Conversion

Hello Family!

We had a great week! Nothing too eventful happened, but we're happy and doing great! We've officially been companions for over a month now too, so that's exciting:)

Here's one little miracle from the week:) So we came down the stairs from a building and there was a guy waiting for the elevator. We said hello and then gave him a card. We started talking and he was really interested in coming to church so we were all excited and we were telling him about church. Then his elevator came so he got in and we started to leave. But then I thought, Man! We didn't even teach him anything. I should have given him a Book of Mormon! and then, because God is good, something happened to the elevator and the door opened again and he was there! So I seriously ran over and I was like, Wait! Gertice! And I gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him a little about it. He needed that Book of Mormon, that's why the elevator didn't work;)

This week I was reading in my study journal from the MTC and I read something from Elder Holland. He said, "You need to be the very first convert you ever have." I have to be truly converted, because I can't convert anyone beyond my own conversion! We had a lesson with a less-active that I finally felt like things clicked in my head. The Restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon are central to conversion!! She had some concerns and doubts about church authority and some other commandment/policy things, but instead of talking about how those really are commandments, we focused on how questions are good and normal! We need to have questions just like Joseph Smith, so that we can ask and come to know for ourselves if it's true! We all need to convert ourselves, we can't rely on someone else's conversion! And the Book of Mormon is the way we can know for ourselves! So keep reading everyday;)

We're focusing lots on Less-actives and they just keep appearing!! It's amazing! We got a media referral for a less-active which I didn't know was a thing, and then we had a less-active just call and reach out to us that we were able to teach! (She's the experience above). It's wonderful and we're determined to help these wonderful sheep come back to the fold!:)

One of the biggest things I feel like I've learned on my mission along with this true conversion topic is how critical the primary answers really are! Scriptures, prayer, and church. It's not just nice to do, it's necessary! That's how we get the strength we need every day and week! That's how we show we're committed and how we stay committed!

Me and Sister Israelsen keep laughing about how a mission really is like a rollercoaster. It's up and down and all over the place but I love it! It's so much fun! I think I've said that probably a thousand times to Sister Israelsen haha! I just think it's so much fun to walk around the streets of New York talking to people and trying to follow the spirit to be guided to where we need to be! Of course there are times where it's a bit overwhelming and we don't know what we're doing, but I would never trade this time for anything in the world:) And I've also realized more and more how much I LOVE bus contacting! We travel all over, and our travel time becomes our finding time which is so awesome! I love it and I'm legit in love with Harlem:) I never want to leave! Being a missionary is the coolest experience in the whole world!

Thanks for all the love and support! I love you so so much! I have the best family in the whole world and I'm super excited for all of your fun Christmas adventures! Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

Central Park in the fall is BEAUTIFUL!

I love my companion!

Happy Halloween :)

Hello Family!

Happy Halloween! We had our ward Halloween party on Saturday which was so much fun! We had a great time and me and Sister Israelsen ate so much food we thought we were going to explode! Everything was so good! We had been inviting everyone to the party for so long so it was fun that it finally came! One of our investigators, Kim, and her grandson Nize (Nah-zay) came which was great! A few of our less actives came as well and everyone had a lot of fun:) 

For the real day of Halloween we went home by 7:00 and when we got home I dressed up like a pioneer. Cause you can't go through Halloween without dressing up!;) So I'll include the picture:) and we made a pumpkin pie smoothie, and had a mission wide conference call with President Smith and just talked about so many awesome things from the Book of Mormon:) The Book of Mormon is so powerful, amazing, and we should all read from it every single day!

Funny story. So Saturday earlier in the day we were at the church doing some studies and lunch and an Opera came to practice in our church! Haha what?! Like the metropolitan opera! (I think... a guy had a hat on that said the metropolitan opera, but maybe it wasn't them?) Anyways, it was super awesome and I was in heaven hearing instruments and singing in the background just like my good old BYU practice rooms in the HFAC:)

I thought Utah weather was unpredictable (which it is), but let me tell you, New York is the same! One day it's freezing, the next day it's warm. The other day it had been sunny and nice, and then on Sunday it started POURING rain! Seriously we walked out of the church and it was sprinkling a little, and then two minutes later we were running through huge puddles and pouring rain haha! It was super wet but super fun! It's always an adventure and I LOVE IT!! We were running around trying to find less active members and then there was a lady that I told her I liked her jacket. We started talking and she was like I have a 24 year old daughter you should come meet! She needs you! So then we just went with her right then and had a lesson at their house haha! Super awesome and it went really well:) She was really excited and wants to read the Book of Mormon!

On Monday (Halloween) we were on a less active hunt and we found 6!! Six less actives! And not only did we find them, but they want to come back!!! So we were so happy! Mission miracles! #holidaymiracles

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is so amazing. None of us are perfect, but God's merciful plan is perfect. In Alma 42:29-31 Alma is talking to his son and basically tells him, "Don't let your sins trouble you so much you won't accept God's mercy. Trouble enough that you repent, but then let God's mercy and patience completely fill your heart and humble you. Then get out there and share the gospel so that you can help souls understand God's mercy too!" This is His plan, His work, and it's so wonderful to be a part of it! I love being a missionary and I love being here in Harlem!

I love you all! Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

Lots of busses, lots of rain:)

Nice view from the top of the shopping complex right by our house!

We are Fishers of Men!

Nice view from Central Park

Halloween Party with Kim!!!

Me as a pioneer. This is the place. The Book of Mormon is true. Happy Halloween!