Compared to what?!

Hello Family!!

This week was great:) I officially hit my 1 year mark as a missionary which kind of blows my mind! It's gone so fast! But I love it and I can't imagine being anywhere else or doing anything else! To celebrate we got Mcflurries from McDonald's;)

One night we were tired and wanted to get a slice of pizza. We were deciding between looking up someone we had tried a little while ago, or a part-member family that I remembered lived close by as our last thing before we got a piece of pizza and headed home. We prayed about it and both felt like we should see the family. The husband is a member but his wife isnt. They welcomed us in and we were able to talk to Shayna for a little bit. Thomas had to go, but we showed her and her daughter a little video that was perfect and she really opened up to us. They had been struggling a little in their marriage and Thomas started going to church again. She could really see the changes it was making in him and so recently she has started coming to church with him! In the middle of our conversation her cute 4 year old daughter asked if we could make a prayer and she told her mom too. Shayna had never said a group prayer out loud before, but she couldn't tell her daughter no! So she prayed and it was so sweet and sincere:) They are so kind and we set a time to come back. As we were leaving they offered us a piece of pizza they had just ordered for dinner! It was all a miracle and God is seriously so in the details of our lives. We had met Thomas because Heavenly Father reminded me to get a tithing slip for fast offerings after church and he was sitting by them so we talked to him. Then we had that prompting to see them and we followed through. What we talked about with her was perfect, and in the end we still got our piece of pizza we were hoping for but for free because we did the Lord's work rather than our own work!:) Such a miracle!

Do you remember the YouTube video Marcel the Shell?? (If you don't, or if you haven't seen it you should watch it cause I'm about to reference it). It's about a talking little shell with shoes and at one part she says "Some people tell me that my head is too big for my body, and I say, Compared to what?!" Me and Sister Christoffersen realized that is so true for our whole life! Too often we compare ourselves to those around us. We think we're not good enough or not successful, but really, compared to what? No one else has grown up the way you have, experience the things you have, is working in the position or field you are at this exact time. No one is you! So what can you even compare yourself to besides yourself? No one! Heavenly Father judges us so fairly and justly. He understands us perfectly and takes everything into account. Our job is just to do our personal best with the knowledge, skill, and experience that we have had in that exact situation that we are in. So do your best and don't compare yourself to anyone but yourself! 

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

Love,
sister johnson

1. Celebratory McFlurries for my 1 year mark! (We actually didn't take a picture the first time so we had to get some again so we could take a picture;) )

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2. Basically matching/coordinated outfits for church on Sunday!

 

3-4. Pond at Central Park

5. Sister Christoffersen is a goof;) and I love her!

6-7. Today was SOOO much fun because we rented bikes and biked around the whole Central Park!! I absolutely loved it!! And then we played kickball with other missionaries at Central Park:) NY Missionary p-days are the best!

Love, Sister Johnson 

Laugh every day!

Hello Family!!

This week I have laughed more and harder than I have my whole mission! Sister Christoffersen is hilarious and so far she's basically made me cry from laughing so hard every day haha! So she's awesome!:)

Here's one hilarious story! So we've seen a few big cockroaches in the last few days, so we called Sister Miles, the senior couple in charge of mission housing. Here's our conversation.

"Hi Sister Miles! This is the Inwood Sisters. We just wanted to let you know that we've seen a couple of big cockroaches in our apartment." "Oh no! Where do you live?" "We live on Ft. Washington Avenue." "Oh, do you need somewhere to stay tonight?" "No we're okay, we've killed them." "Well I'm sorry to hear that... but I just don't understand why you're calling me..." ...*confusion and gears running in our head* and then it clicked that we called Sister Miles in our WARD not Sister Miles for the mission! Hahaha!!! We apologized and told her and then we were able to contact the correct Sister Miles so it's all good haha! But we were dying!!

So there are soooo many Dominican people here, and so a lot of people speak Spanish. Some still speak English but they're more comfortable in Spanish so we pass them off to Spanish missionaries. Three months ago we knocked into someone named Rodolfo Garcia. He spoke pretty good English so we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and then passed him off to the Spanish elders. Now him and his brother have a baptism date for next month! Wahoo! We're all on a team when it comes to missionary work!:)

I learned a very important truth this week that brought me a lot of hope and peace in my life and in my own testimony of the gospel. In Sunday school we talked about the gifts of the spirit. In D&C 46:13 we learn that "To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world." Some people just KNOW! They have that gift of really knowing, unwaveringly that Jesus Christ and His Atonement is real. But then you continue to read in verse 14 and it says "To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful." To others they have the gift of BELIEVING! These people may never KNOW, but they believe on their words and they act in faith. And as long as they continue faithful, they too will gain eternal life! They will receive the same reward of those that know, even if they never know in this life! And that's a gift to believe! I feel like I'm a believer, and I'm sure many of you are too! There are a lot of things that I feel like I don't KNOW about the gospel, but I BELIEVE in it enough to act in faith on whatever it is. So if you struggle to know, be patient with yourself and believe! Maybe that's your gift:)

Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson

There's always so much to do in New York and I LOVE IT!!!:)Natural History Museum last week 

                                                Sister Bongolto goes home at the end of this transfer!:(

                       My first New York Hotdog!!! (And I've lived in the city for a year...)

                                                                    The Armory section at the Met

The Flatiron Building (this and next photo)

Flecks of Gold

Hello Family!!

Guess what?! I get to stay in Inwood for a 5th transfer!! Wahoo:) Sister Balley is now off to Texas, and my new companion is Sister Christoffersen:) She is from Arkansas and she has been out for 3 months. She plays the trumpet and she's super happy, bold, and optimistic:) So I'm excited to serve with her!

Oh yeah here's a funny street contacting story! So we were walking through a park trying to talk to a few people. We sat down by one lady at a bench and after a minute or two of talking she pulled out her phone and said she had to take this call. . . the screen was blank and after a minute or so we could tell that she was just faking a phone call haha! But it's okay cause it made us laugh a little:)

We went to a fireside on Sunday about addiction recovery. It was about what happens to our brain when we're addicted to something, and how we can be healed through Christ. It was good! A little confusing cause the guy was so smart and he was talking fast, but the Spirit taught me something so that's all that matters! We all have little addictions or habits that we want to stop. He talked about how our brain has some brakes in the front like a car, that tell us to stop or slow down (like when it tells us not to eat a whole tub of ice cream or to not do or think about something). So I thought about how it's important to follow those promptings and follow the brakes. Cause if we have the brakes going but we're still doing the gas at the same time (imagine in a car) then we'll wear out the brakes! So, it's important to have that self discipline when it's needed so you don't wear out the brakes and the promptings! Hopefully that makes sense:) 

I forgot an important breakthrough from last week:) So there's a Mormon Message called Flecks of Gold. It talks about a guy who went to the California Gold Rush looking for gold nuggets and he finds none so he's disappointed! (AKA - Me). Then a good old man tells him that it's not about the big nuggets, it's about the small flecks of gold that add up to make us rich! (AKA - Sister Balley). I've been looking for big amazing moments where I completely change and grow and the Spirit is so powerful and it's like a 180 degree flip! But she brought up something I feel is true and important for me and probably for a lot of us as we go through life. God is able to help all of us change and he reforms us at different times in our life. But we're not always being reformed. In my case, I've grown up with the church, I've already made those changes necessary to follow him and be on the right path. So now at this point in my life, and similar to a lot of us, He is not reforming me, He's refining me. He's carving in the details of who he wants me to be. Sometimes those little flecks of Gold are hard to see unless you're really looking. It can be hard because it's small! It doesn't seem like it's making any difference! But those small and simple things are what make us rich and priceless:) So look for the small and simple change that is happening in your life!

Love you all! Make it a great week:)

Love, Sister Johnson 

He's a chatty chat :)

Hello Family!

So cool thing about missionary work, it's basically like detective work and I kind of love it! You use all the different records you have to find people who are ready for the gospel! Some days you look and look all day and no one is home, but then every once in a while you get a golden little person who brightens up your day and gives you hope:) We found two new investigators like that this week:) George who we met with a member and when we taught him the Restoration he accepted the invitation to be baptized (the next challenge is just being able to meet with him again!) and Destiny who after teaching her a simple Restoration at her door she was really excited to read the Book of Mormon and asked "Do you habe a card? Where is your church? I want to go on Sunday!" (She didn't come though, so we just need to meet with her again too!). We'll find them again:)

One thing that we've started doing which has been so fun and so good, is that we're trying to get to know the Young Women better. There are 8 wonderful young women here, and just like anyone going through those years of life, it can be a little difficult sometimes. So we're doing our best to help, lift, and be a friend to them. We went to mutual on Friday which was so fun! It brought me right back to my mutual days haha! We got to know them better and the other day we even spent some time individually with one of the Young Women. We got ice cream and went on a little walk through the park. She really opened up to us and it was so much fun to get to know her better! I love all the girls so much and we want to help them! I think this will help me with my future goals too! I've always wanted to be a Junior High Band teacher and help younger kids. That is such a critical and hard time of life, and I want to be able to help them! I don't exactly know how to right now, but I think working with the Young Women will be good start:)

Last night we had a wonderful dinner with a family in our ward. We simply shared what we share with so many people as missionaries about the Restoration. We talked about how it applies to us and our families and we bore testimony throughout it. It was so simple, yet powerful! I love the Restoration and I know that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They appeared to him because they love us like crazy! They want to give us the guidance and help that we need to return to Them:) And I know that it's as we read the Book of Mormon every day and pray about it that we can know for ourselves and feel of his love. One cute member we visited explained it simply that Heavenly Father always answers our prayers because "He's a chatty chat." Haha! He's always trying to tell and show us that he loves us more than anything! I hope you know that you truly are loved:)

Make it a great week y'all!! (Shout out to Sister Balley cause she's from Texas and she's going home next week!) 

Love, Sister Johnson 

George Washington Bridge by our house :)

Tram ride to Roosevelt Island

Me and Sister Bailey :)

Repentance is Cool :)

Hello Family!

Can you believe it's almost JUNE?!?! Wow. This year is just flying by!! And the funny thing is, our weather forecast still says 10 days of rain, and it's June... Today was perfect weather though!

Our cute investigator Nina and her daughter Mariah moved to Florida this week, so we helped her a lot on Thursday to pack up her moving truck. She's been an investigator for a year, but so many family struggles and situations make it hard for her to really focus on the church. She's gone to church a lot though and she really loves the church, so she will get baptized someday:) We contacted her new bishop and sister missionaries and they will take good care of her:) I love her though! It's so fun being a missionary because you're able to become so involved in individuals lives and you just grow to love them so much! But thanks to technology we didn't really have to say good-bye:)

Not too much happened this week so I don't have a lot to share, but one thing I know is that we can always use little reminders that repentance is cool because it is! So here's my reminder, and now yours:) We talked about it during church. So imagine a path going on forever in both direction. One direction is towards God, and the other is towards sin or anything that takes us away from God. Here we are on this path, and we're always moving in one direction or the other, we can't be stationary. So when we sin and do something that leads us away from God, our back is literally turned to God. We step away from Him. But repentance is receiving the strength from Jesus Christ to turn around. We can then face God and walk towards Him, and we don't have to do it on our own! That's why it's so cool!! Heavenly Father knew there would be plenty of times in our lives when our backs would be turned towards Him. Not because we mean to, but because we're human! He knew it would be hard to turn around, hard to change. So that's why he sent His Son, Jesus Christ! So that we never have to do it on our own and we can always receive his help no matter where we're at! In Mosiah 26:30 it says "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me." Wherever you are on your path, you can always receive help from Jesus Christ! That's what repentance is all about:) And it is so empowering, freeing, and comforting when we know and recognize that He is right there to help us turn around:) So use it cause repentance is cool!

Make it a great week!

Love, Sister Johnson 

Special Moments :)

Hello Family!!

This week was wonderful:) We had Zone Conference on Thursday and Sister Balley, Sister Stark, and I did a musical number and then in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday Sister Balley and I were also able to do a musical number! So that was special and they both went really well!:)

I talked to one guy on the train on Friday and he saw the picture of Christ I had on my tablet case. He asked about it so we started talking and we told him about the Book of Mormon. He asked me what my favorite part of the Book was, so I told him that it's when Jesus Christ comes to visit the people of America after he was resurrected. He stopped me and said, wait Jesus Christ came to America?! No way! He was so surprised and so excited! We flipped to 3 Nephi 11, folded down the page, and had to run off at our train stop. Just the look on his face and his excitement made me so happy! Sometimes I forget how truly amazing the things we have and know are until there are people who hear and understand it for the first time! So that was special too:) I ❤ the Book of Mormon!

One night we were walking up a subway station tunnel to get to the elevator to go home. There was a homeless person we had seen there a few times, but when we walked past her this time we felt like we should talk to her. Her name was June and she had lost all of her family and the cousin she was living with was out of the country so she had no where to go. She was so sweet and it was so special to meet her. We sat down on the floor with her and said a prayer with her. By the end of the prayer she had tears running down her face. We sat and talked to her for a good while. We gave her a pamphlet, a Book of Mormon, and called an investigator we know who knows the ins and outs of street life after going through that herself so they could talk. At the end of us being there a kind man, after hundreds of people walking past us up and down the ramp, just one guy stopped and said "what can I do to help?" He then gave June some money and she was so surprised. She couldn't believe how kind he was to her! There really are good people in the world and it only takes one to make a difference:)

On Friday I was able to spend a day in the Bronx as a missionary while Sister Balley and another sister were at a going home meeting. It was so fun to see another area, and the Bronx was really nice! Then... the best part of the week is that I GOT TO GO TO HARLEM!!! I got to be on a split for a day with Sister Dismuke (from the MTC) in Harlem. It was heaven:) It didn't even feel weird or seem like I had been gone for a long time, it just felt like home. Harlem will always hold a special place in my heart. We were able to teach a few people I knew from when I was there:) We tried to visit the Nieves family (my little recent convert family). They weren't home and they haven't been at church for a little while which is sad, but I was able to leave a little note on their door to let them know I love them!!:)

It was definitely a special week full of good things to remember:) I hope you all have a special week and remember that you are special to Him! Love you!

Love, Sister Johnson 

1. 2 days worth of garbage from Alice! It was a mountain haha!

2. New York Library

 

4-5. We went to the Lego store and made little people. I made a sister missionary but left her there. The little saxophone player we got to keep because we did a little Lego scavenger hunt:)

6. We are currently sitting at a little table people watching:) It's so much fun in NY! So much is always going on.

Not enough time in NY ;)

Hello Family!!

I love you!! It was so nice to hear your voices and see your faces on Mother's Day:):)

So we have an investigator who is moving to Florida which is really sad:( So this week we started to help her pack. She needed some boxes but couldn't find any, so one night we walked into a little grocery store and asked them if they had boxes. They led us down to their little storage place and basically said have at it. We only had our hands, so we each grabbed three big boxes and carried them to the church haha! We were just walking down the street with giant folded up boxes and no one even thought it was weird haha! The next day when we went to take her the boxes it was raining (not as bad as last week though😊) so we took our fancy little Bronx Cart from Costco and took it to the church. We loaded it up with our boxes and put a garbage bag over it to keep it dry. Basically I'm just telling you all of this because it looked ridiculous haha! I'll include a picture of our cart;)

Service is just so much fun to do, especially as a missionary!! I love it! Every week we do service at a park raking leaves and digging dirt out of the gutters. This week we also did some service for a member and helped her deep clean her kitchen for three hours! It's the best feeling ever when you know you've made someone's day better and you did something for them they couldn't have done for themselves:) And something I've learned about doing service for others is that sometimes it comes when it's least convenient for us. But that's when it becomes true service right?:) When it's inconvenient for us, but needed for them:)

We've been busy today playing frisbee at Central Park, adventuring down the streets of New York, and trying all sorts of little bakeries. So sorry I don't have much to write:/ Time goes so fast! There's not enough time when you're in the city! Time just flies:) Unless you're playing frisbee in the humid hot sun for an hour and it's the longest hour ever! But so fun:) Anyways, I hope you all make it a wonderful week!! Keep having faith. Just trust Him:)

Love, Sister Johnson 

Our neighbor Alice:) Oh Alice...

Things at Rockefeller

Levain's - A famous little bakery with giant cookies

Our boxes with a bag that look suspicious...