Monday, February 20, 2017

From the HEART

Hello Family!!

For Valentine's Day it was a really special day! We had an amazing Sister's Day (because sisters need their girl time๐Ÿ˜‰) and all 80 sisters in our mission met up in Scarsdale for some special Sister training:) Stephanie Nielson, a famous blogger who you should all look up, came and spoke to us:) Her and her husband's story is amazing. A few years ago they survived a plane crash, but both came out of it with severe burns. Stephanie has 3 and 4 degree burns covering 80% of her body, and her story of recovery and hope is amazing and so inspiring! She talked a lot about the blessings and joy of motherhood, our inner beauty, and prayer and hope in our Heavenly Father and Savior. She is so strong and amazing. They are amazing missionaries and she talked about how sharing the gospel is what really helped her and healed her.

Wednesday night we walked out of a train station on 168th st and there was a little crowd of people at a restaurant near by. I didn't pay any attention to it, but Sister Nielsen saw Donny Wahlberg!! (I have no idea who that is... but he's famous and Mark Wahlberg's brother?) They were filming Blue Bloods I guess haha! (also don't know what that is...). So that was pretty cool.

Our newest investigator, Michael, is really great! We met him last week cause he works as a security guard at an apartment building of one of our less active members. He had stopped us and asked if we were Mormons. Music to our ears! So he said he's been to the Salt Lake temple, met missionaries, and has a Book of Mormon. He would love to go back to the temple someday and would love to go in! We talked about temples, the Book of Mormon, priesthood and baptism. So this week we saw him again and taught him the Restoration. He loved it and was soaking it all in! He has some really great questions and you can tell he's really interested in learning more:) He's already started to read the Book of Mormon, and he's excited to read more and pray about it. 

Charity is important. So important that the scriptures tell us so many times that if we don't have it we're nothing. I read a scripture today that was really great and it just had a new meaning this time. 
Moroni 7:42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.
44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.
If we want to be able to testify of Jesus Christ we have to have charity. If we don't share the joy, blessings, and beauty of the Gospel sincerely from our heart and out of love, it doesn't do us much good. We must needs have charity:)

Seek to share the gospel from your heart whether it's just by your example, sharing a video or scripture, or doing an act of service for someone else. Pray for a missionary experience this week - whether big or small!:) I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

Me and Sister Nielsen with Stephanie NielsonAdd caption

Valentine's cookies:)

Me and Sister Webb (a friend from VHS Marching Band)

Me and Sister Israelsen

Me and Sister Bongolto

Me and Hermana Derzon

Me and Sister Robison

Transfer #6

Hello Family!!                                                                                    February 13, 2017

So... I lied to you last week because I said it was Transfer #5, but really it's Transfer #6!! Woah!! Time flies!

We had transfers and it went well:) I saw Sister Israelsen and she updated me on a bunch of wonderful Harlem news! So Adrianna, a daughter of a less active member named Ann-Marie that we saw every single weekend, was BAPTIZED! Yay!! And they're actually coming to church and Ann-Marie is finally seeing the importance of covenants and everything is going good! Miracle!! I was so happy to hear that! Shamus, the husband of a less active member that we worked with, Jesmille, has been coming to church with her and he's not a member! Another girl we met, Abbie, who is the wife of a less active member named Byron, isn't a member either and she's been reading from the Book of Mormon! Wahoo!! They're doing great work and taking good care of Harlem:)

So I have all these funny mission dreams that I tell Sister Nielsen about all the time of someone just letting us in and they've already been reading the Book of Mormon or me just like humming a hymn and someone finding us and they just "knew" that song or knew they needed to find us, or me coming back in like 3 or 5 years and meeting someone who pulls out a pass along card that has my handwriting and name that they've kept the picture that whole time. You know, classic missionary dreams right?;) But one of them came true this week! So I was holding a Book of Mormon cause I try to be holding one as we travel as often as I can. I was sitting on the train and a guy sat down pretty close so I said hi and talked to him a little. Then (here comes the dream part) he looked at me and was like, so I see you have a Book of Mormon there. I don't know anything about it, will you tell me? Wahoo! So I told him about it and he asked the difference between our church and other churches so I talked about the priesthood, prophets, and how it's been restored. We got his contact information and he was really excited to read it! I was so happy!

We had a MIRACLE lesson! The Book of Mormon is amazing and has answers to everything! So one of our investigators, Cheyane, has been struggling with smoking. She told us a while ago she wants to be baptized, but then we asked her last week about it and she said she wasn't thinking about baptism anymore because she knows she has to quit smoking and she said she can't:( So we were really sad. But then the Elders helped us decide to share Book of Mormon stories with her cause she loves the scriptures. So we went in to our lesson and we read a couple verses about Nephi building the boat and how he put his faith and trust in the Lord even when it may have seemed impossible and his brothers were making fun of him and didn't believe in him. As we read we didn't even mention smoking, but the spirit did!! At the end she told us that it really encouraged her with smoking and she knew that she could do it. It would be hard, but the Lord can help her. She called the next day and said she had read all of 1 Nephi chapters 17-18 and wanted another good chapter to read:) So the Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit really is the key!

I've been focusing a lot on the Book of Mormon and I'm really trying to tear it apart this transfer and learn as much as I can so I can use it to teach! I'm finding and marking all the great stories that are good to share and relate to our lives and the chapters that teach doctrine clearly and simply. It's amazing! The Book of Mormon has answers to EVERYTHING!:) I really love it a lot and I'm excited to keep learning more about what's inside:)

We did have a crazy snow day with a good 6 or 7+ inches which was fun! School and work got canceled so it was good for us haha:) It's all melting away already though, so we're doing good and we're staying warm! Also our members are so amazing and we've been getting fed seriously like every night! It's so crazy!! There's a million random things I always want to tell you but I always forget:( but I guess I'll just have more to tell you when I get home right?;) 

I love you! Thanks for your love and support! The church is true, the Book of Mormon is truly our Liahona and guide in our life, and we have a living prophet and modern revelation.

 I love being a missionary! Even though I am so so far from perfect, and I seriously have so much that I need to learn, but it's amazing to be on the Lord's errand and work by his side the best that I can:) Keep reading, keep praying, keep smiling, and keep trusting! He's there:) Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson








Transfer #5

Hello Family!                                                                                                     February 6th, 2017

We start a new transfer tomorrow and I'm staying in Inwood with Sister Nielsen:) We're the only companionship that is staying the same in our zone! I'm happy I'm staying here:)

We had a lot of companion splits this week. On Wednesday Hermana Payne came with me to the English program. Then Hermana Payne and Sister Nielsen got sick, so me and Hermana Morales went out on Zebra splits!! Half english, half spanish and we worked in each other's areas. I'm determined to learn Spanish someday:) I'm doing good so far! The people we teach in Spanish sometimes think I speak Spanish so they talk to me and then I just pay attention to what Hermana Morales does and I just nod and smile if that's what she's doing haha!

So a funny and important part of our life as missionaries here in Inwood is that we have a funny old neighbor named Alice. Almost every night she asks us to take out her garbage and we usually heat up some food really hot for her in the microwave. She's funny haha! We always take the garbage out, and there's always rats down by the garbage so it's quite an adventure every night:)

On Saturday we had a baptism in our ward!! The Elders investigators, Jason Reynoso, was baptized and it was really wonderful:) Before the baptism me and Sister Morales helped a lady in our ward make pastelitos to bring. It was super fun! They're like a Spanish version of a pot sticker but they're fried. They were really good and Sister Cunningham is hilarious so it was fun! To get to the baptism we took a TAXI!! Me and Sister Morales were so excited and we got to do the New York hand wave to flag a taxi down. We got in and had so much fun:) We took a video of the whole ride haha! The baptism was great and we were all happy! Even though Jason is really quiet, you could tell that he was really happy:) That's all he said after receiving the Holy Ghost in sacrament. We asked how he felt and he just smiled a little and said Happy:)

At his baptism the welcomes to the quorum and the ward little talks were so good! They talked all about how as a church we are a family. We're a body. We're all different but we're all needed. Just because one is a hand and another my be a foot or an eye doesn't mean that it's not important. Every one of us and every calling that we receive in the church is important and a necessary part to keep the Lord's church going. I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and for the parts we each play in helping it grow. No matter who you are, you're important:) Our Heavenly Father loves you and He needs you!

I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love, Sister Johnson!

p.s. I cut my own hair again, but this time I gave myself layers too! For being the first time, it wasn't bad haha! A little shorter than I wanted, but now I know for next time how to do it better!:) The things you learn as a missionary...❤๐Ÿ˜Š

Sunday, February 5, 2017

New things are wonderful!

Hello Family!

Exciting news of the week... I ate dinner with Oliver Cowdrey from the Restoration movie last Monday! Also Hyrum Smith in The Work and The Glory. Basically the Inwood 1st Ward is the most talented ward with lots of acting, singing, and musical performers! So we ate dinner with the Woods and he is in a lot of church movies. The Woods are also known to all the missionaries for their dinner challenges. Either they ask a hard question and you have to answer, or tell them something they don't know about a gospel topic. But their challenge on Monday was really fun. Teach a family home evening using legos, the scriptures, and keep the kids involved. So... we pondered for a bit and the spirit brought to my remembrance that I had just read about Nephi building a boat and going to the Promise Land that morning, so we sang Nephi's courage for the opening song and then read and reenacted the story. We had little people, tools to build a big boat (the lego bucket), big blue crashing waves (blue lego buckets), and animals when they got to the promised land:) The best part about these little Lego people was when Nephi prayed after being tied up. The little boy was acting out Nephi so we were like, okay Caleb, make Nephi pray! And he goes "but he can't fold his arms!" Haha! The little Lego guy couldn't fold his arms or kneel down haha;)

Also even bigger exciting new of the week... (drum roll)... the missionary schedule has been changed along with our key indicators! Woah! So nightly planning is now in the morning, and some other things with when our studies are is different:) More opportunities to rearrange our schedules and do whatbis best for us which is great, and to help us leave at 10:00. With the key indicators it's down to only 4 that we report on - baptized and confirmed, those with a baptism date, those that attended Sacrament meeting, and new investigators. So it's very exciting and makes things a little different which is fun!

The Book of Mormon is the greatest book in the whole world full of wonderful knowledge! I've had some of the most direct and inspirational responses to my questions as I read the Book of Mormon. I've started from the beginning again and try to always pray before about a question and read with that question in mind, and even though I've read the beginning a thousand times, there's still new things I've been able to learn! It's amazing! You should try it:)

We have a cute new less active member that we're working with named Brenda. Two weeks ago she texted us randomly and asked if she could meet with us. The sisters before had tried to contact her a bunch but never had success, but now she's ready and she reached out to us! She really wants to come back. She joined when she was about 16 (now she's in her early 20's), but hasn't come for a long time so she's excited to start all over and learn everything again. She knows it will be hard, but she knows that it will be worth it!! I love her already and I'm excited to help her come back:)

We also had a great lesson with a guy named Franklin last night. He seems really prepared! We took him to the church and had a great lesson. He knows a lot about the Bible and he's really excited to get into the Book of Mormon. We taught him the Restoration and he loved it! He was so interested in the organization of the church with prophets and leaders and how it's the same as when Christ came. He's really interested and just kept saying amen and agreeing with what we taught him. He's super great! He even wanted to come out and teach with us afterwards! He was like, I don't know much about the Book of Mormon yet, but I know a lot about the Bible so I could help you teach, and I can learn from you! Haha! 

It's been a great week! I'm in love with our ward, I'm grateful for all the new people we've been able to work with, I'm grateful for the inspired organization and the wonderful leaders of the church, I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon and its endless amounts of instruction and guidance. I love being a missionary and I hope it never ends as I become truly converted here so that I can be a missionary back home as well! The church is true and I love you!

Love, Sister Johnson