Repentance is Cool!

Hello Family!!

So the saying in our mission that President Smith loves and always tells us is, Repentance is Cool. All the time we have #repentanceiscool and other funny hash tags about whatever else we're focusing on. I love it! But this week I really feel like the Atonement became more real and repentance really is cool!! So repentance is changing and becoming more converted. Repentance brings a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world (Bible Dictionary). 

Lots of times (at least for me) when I've learn about repentance it seems more of a negative or a scary thing. If you do something wrong, you have to REPENT! Repent or you'll get in trouble... O_o But really repentance is a positive and uplifting experience! And it doesn't even have to be big things, it's for the little things as well! :D

So back to what I was talking about last week with our lives being a rollercoaster. We had interviews with President this week and we talked about how life really is like a roller coaster! But he told me to just trust in Heavenly Father. We will have ups and downs, but if we put our trust in Him we can just kind of hang on and enjoy the rush. When we go down a bit we can always trust that we'll come back, we just have to hang on a bit! Sometimes rollercoasters are scary, but without all the ups and downs and turns all over it wouldn't be exciting! And overall you know it's all good, you'll be okay, and when you finish you'll be ready for the next one all over again!:) So with this idea of a rollercoaster, I definitely feel like I'm on the upward slope:)

And I feel like I'm going up, because I really decided to change! I realized I wasn't happy with a few things I was doing or who I was, so one morning I just decided to change. I was able to recognize the preparation God has given me to get to this point. Because after all, "He is a full time parent with no distracting hobbies" (sacrament meeting) so He takes the time to build us line upon line, precept upon precept. He prepares us for the situations we are in. I then figured out who I want to be and how I want to change, and then the best part (here's where the repentance/Atonement part comes in)... I gave myself permission to change, and I CHANGED!! That simple:) Repentance is cool.

The power of the Atonement is so real. When we align ourselves with God and we can be yoked with Christ and on the same page, life is seriously so much better! These last few days I feel so free! I'm happier, and it's so much easier to push Satan aside and bounce back because I'm able to have more of an eternal perspective. Letting the Atonement work in our lives frees us. It opens up a whole new world! It did for me and I know it can for you too if you let it:) The Atonement is real. And the reason it's real and powerful is not just because He suffered everything for us and died, but that He overcame it all and lives again! I know He lives and I know He can lift, strengthen, and help us in our lives. 

On Tuesday night one of the Hermanas (Hermana Morales) living with us just decided she wanted to chop her hair. Right then. That night. So... guess who cut her hair?? Sister Johnson! We cut a whole pamphlet length off! I was pretty nervous at first but it turned out good and she's happy! It was just super spur of the moment and it was fun that she trusted me enough to chop it haha!

Wednesday was the best day ever! Full of miracles! A few appointments got cancelled, but because of back up plans and because God is good and this is His work, we ended up having 11 lessons! 11! 6 investigator, 4 less active, and 1 member dinner lesson. It was amazing as we went from lesson to lesson to lesson all day! We didn't even feel like we deserved such a good day, but we are so grateful for this wonderful work! Heavenly Father is hastening the work and we're just running to keep up;)

I love you all! Keep smiling, keep working hard, keep trusting in the Lord:) He loves you, I love you, and repentance is cool:)

Love, Sister Johnson

Our apartment Building

Hermana Morales chopped hair in the garbage (Don't mind the two empty cartons of ice cream haha;)

 Fire escapes

Across the water is New Jersey!

Me and Sister Nielsen:)

I love being a missionary!

Tender Mercies

Hello Family!

Missionary work is the best and I love being out here! Sometimes life (and missionary life) can be crazy because there are so many ups and downs all the time, am I right?:) But overall, it's always good! And I totally have a testimony of that! Satan tries to throw us for a loop and throw in hard and negative things, but if we pay attention, there are always little lights and tender mercies that Heavenly Father sends our way. For some reason I feel like it's a lot easier to remember the negative things, but as we remember the good things throughout our day, it makes everything so much better:) I have a calendar for the year of 2017 and every day I write 1 or 2 little tender mercies or miracles that happened that day and it's so amazing to see that Heavenly Father really is aware of us and he is helping us in the work!

Monday night we planned a family home evening that we invited a bunch of member, investigators, and less actives to. We planned a lesson, activity, treats, and everything. But for some reason everyone ended up not being able to come and they had to cancel on us. Me and Sister Nielsen, the Elders in our ward, the senior couple missionaries, and a member couple ended up being the only ones there. So we decided to still just have a little FHE lesson. We talked about prayer and ended up having a really great discussion with them. Their insights were really great and I learned a lot from everything they said! While they were talking it dawned on me that the reason no investigators or less actives showed up for FHE was because Heavenly Father knew that I needed an FHE about prayer. That was something I had been trying to work on for a long time, and I really felt like what I needed was what our members said. It was a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father loves me and is aware of me because he planned a family home evening just for me:) It was powerful and I am so grateful for that tender mercy and answer to my prayers.

Crazy miracle story! We met a girl in the elevator and just talked to her briefly. We got off to look someone up but they werent home. We felt bad that we didn't talk to her more so we went to the floor she got off at. We had no idea how we would find her because on each floor there were 15 or 16 different apartments, but we felt like we needed to try anyways! We said a prayer and felt we should knock on a door that we heard voices in. We knocked, and IT WAS HER!! We talked to her and her mom, but her mom speaks Spanish. So we set up a time for the Hermanas to see them and so far it's been good and they really want to come to church!

Another miracle story! We met a lady coming out of a building that we were trying to get in to. She had a saxophone case so we started talking to her. She had to go but gave us her number. For some reason it didn't save after she left so I tried to remember what her number was and wrote it down from memory. We ran after her to try to get it again but she just said she would call us and she said we could meet at the church on Friday at 7:30 (the church was super close to her). So Friday we went to the church and she didn't show up. We had the number I tried to remember and guess so I figured we might as well try. Either it would be her or we'd just call a random person that maybe needed the gospel! So I called and guess what... IT WAS THE RIGHT NUMBER!! Haha! We couldn't even believe it! The spirit really does bring things to our remembrance.

We also had an amazing zone conference this week that I learned so so much at!

When we look for the good every day, it's always there. Promise:) Try it and you'll be amazed at how often the Lord's hand is in your life! I'm grateful for this time to represent Jesus Christ here in New York and see all these tender mercies and miracles in His work! Make it a great week by seeing the good in every day! I love you all and know that Heavenly Father does too!

Love, Sister Johnson

Faith, Hope and Charity

(sorry readers - my internet was down last week so I just posted 2 of her letters - todays and last weeks :)

Hello Family!

This week was a bit chilly! We officially have snow so it's now cold winter time! We bundle up hard core and then go trudge through the snow which is super fun haha! It's only fun because we're missionaries and that makes everything better!:)

Each week in my studies I pick a Christ like attribute and study it for 10-15 at the beginning and it has been so amazing! I learn something new about them I had never thought about before!

- Faith in Christ means confidence and trust in him. He has shown us that He has perfect love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing so that our human minds can place all confidence and trust in him without reservation. There is no reason not to have faith in Him!

- Hope. In our normal language hope has a hint of uncertainty, but there's no uncertainty with hope in the gospel. Hope is not a wish but an expectation - it's sure, unwavering, and active.

- Charity includes God's eternal love for all His children. That's a lot of love! And we're supposed to have that kind of love? How! But charity is a gift. We can't conjure up all that love on our own. But as we do good and try to serve and love others and as we pray for charity, Heavenly Father will help us to have it. Which is good because we need it! No matter what good things we do, if we don't do it out of love, it's not worth it.

So I'm trying to develop these wonderful attributes:)

Me gusta espanol:) I went on a split with Hermana Morales and I can now have a full missionary conversation! (Mostly a one-sided conversation because I don't know what they're saying unless they answer my questions directly haha!) Here's everything I can say: Hello! How are you? What is your name? I'm Sister Johnson. We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Would you like to learn more? Can we get your contact information? What is your phone number? What is your address? Here is our card. The church is at 1815 Riverside Dr. It starts at 11:00. I know God lives. God is our loving Heavenly Father. It was nice to meet you. Have a great day! Bye!

We have a less active member named Avanna that they've been trying to get her to read the Book of Mormon for a while. But she has now started! Wahoo!! We sat down and read the first chapter with her, and she read the second on her own:) We gave her a Book of Mormon reading chart to fill out and she loves it! When we read chapter 3 with her we had her think of a question to have in her mind as we read and it was really cool to see what she was able to learn from it! She is so good at understanding and learning from the scriptures! So that's a miracle and such a blessing:) It's amazing to see her change and take that step of faith to read the Book of Mormon because it's hard but she wants to do it! I love when people are able to have spiritual experiences with the Book of Mormon! Because that's what it's for:) To be a springboard to build our testimony. We don't have to do it all on our own, God has given us tools to get closer to Him:)

I love you all! Thanks for all your love and support! Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

Winter is finally here! And let me tell you, it's freezing! But it's pretty and fun at the same time :)

Happy New Year!!

Hello Family!

This week was wonderful! I love Inwood and I'm happy to be here:) It's the very tip top of the island of Manhattan. There are similar things to Harlem which is really good! It's like Harlem but the smaller, quieter, nicer parts of Harlem. I was so surprised by how quiet it was at first haha! It's really pretty, and I'm super glad I'm still in the city because I still feel like I mostly know what I'm doing:) Our area is pretty small. We are roommates with the Spanish sisters, Hermanas Payne and Morales. Our apartment is pretty big and it's nice:) My wonderful companion, Sister Nielsen, is doing great:) It's funny to be together again but so far it's been good! She's only been here one transfer, so she's still pretty new to the area too. We've done lots of area book and less active lookups, and we've already seen some miracles from it!

Our greatest miracle is Ashley! She's golden! We went to look up her mom, but she wasn't home so we talked to Ashley (she's 15). We gave her a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon, and when we handed her the Book her face just lit up and she was so excited! We came back the next day and taught a really great Restoration lesson. She loved it and was just soaking it all in. She understands so much and she loved the experience of Joseph Smith! She was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and when we came back the next day she had read some! We talked about it and she explained how she felt and when we told her that was the Holy Ghost she brought her hands to her mouth and she was like "Really?? That makes me so happy!" She kept saying that:) We invited her to be baptized and she really wants to! Her mom is so so sad that she keeps missing us. So we're going again tonight and Ashley and Josephine should both be there. She wants this for her family so bad! It's been amazing to testify of how much the gospel really can and will bless her and her family:) She said she's been so happy the last few days because of us, and she can't believe there's even more happiness! We kept telling her it would bless her and her family and she said "I think it already has!" She could already see the the joy she's felt and the change it had made in her mom when she had seen the missionaries! So they're awesome and we're so excited to continue to teach them!

Another miracle is from my last day in Harlem. I learned that the gospel really is for EVERYONE! And sometimes it does just take time, but Heavenly Father is patient and it will all work out for everyone to accept the gospel. About two weeks ago we had a less active member reach out to the church. She knew she needed to come back so she did. She was busy so the closest time she could see us was on Monday. When we went to her house Sister Israelsen commented on her door mat, and it looked so familiar and I was pretty sure I had seen it before. We went in and taught her a lesson and I realized why it looked so familiar. Back up a few months when me and Sister Bongolto were companions and we were doing a bunch of less active look ups... we had visited her and I clearly remember that she told us she wasn't interested in the church because of certain beliefs she didn't agree with. We marked her as someone who wasn't interested so future people would know. Now 3+ months later, she's totally ready, willing to change, and she's been able to recognize that she needs the gospel! These are the kind of little miracles I live for as a missionary! Just being able to see Heavenly Father's love, patience, and see how the gospel really is for everyone:)

Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I almost forgot haha! To celebrate we went to bed at 10:30, but we set an alarm at midnight so we could say Happy New Year and then go back to bed haha! I'm excited for 2017 and my full year of missionary work ahead of me! I set goals combining Luke 2:52 and D&C 4:2 - Serve with all your heart (social), might (spiritual), mind (mental), and strength (physical). I'm excited! I know as you take time to set goals and talk to Heavenly Father about them, He will help you achieve them! Have a great week and a happy new year:)

Love, Sister Johnson

Pizza for our last night in Harlem

Me and Sister Israelsen

Inwood Chapel

Subway lamp

Park by our house on the way to church :)

Graffiti tunnel!!

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!