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