A week of Ups and Downs

Hello from the land of sweltering heat and tobacco fields!

Monday we made smores in the oven and they definitely were not as good as a firepit smore, but still delicious. We have been teaching a less active lady name Donna on Monday evenings. Her son just got married and he is also less active. His wife is not a member. They want to take the lessons and have been asking a lot of questions about the temple. We were supposed to meet with them this past monday, but one of them was sick. So, we taught Donna about the importance of going to church, taking the sacrament and having the holy ghost. It was a really, really good lesson. She said she would come to church!Tuesday was a pretty full day, but everyone cancelled so we did A LOT of tracting that day. It's been really, really hot this week. I never thought I would fully appreciate air conditioning, but I most certainly do now. After we had talked to a zillion people, we knocked on a door that is just down the street from where we live. A lady named Maria answered and we told her our purpose. She agreed to have us come and we were able to teach the restoration to their whole family (4 of them!) They were very receptive to the message and asked to have a book of Mormon. They don't read english well so we gave them a spanish Book of Mormon and they were really excited to read. The best was when their son, Jose stopped us when we were talking about praying to know if the book of mormon was true and said, "I pray to the virgin Mary and I have a giant flag with her on it hanging above my bed." Sis. Joseph and I just smiled and didn't know what to say so we just continued and then Jose asked if he could pray. He offered a prayer and it was such a wonderful expreience. I really love that family. Oh! the other best part was when Sis. Joseph was bearing testimony about reading a praying about the Book of Mormon and Jose Sr. piped up and said he already knows it is true. It caught both myself and Sis. Joseph off guard.

Wednesday we had zone training. It was great! We learned about teaching people, not lessons. I think that is a hard concept to grasp, but it was good. I learned a lot from the conference. Afterwards, we met with a lady named Cindy. Cindy is hilarious. We tracted into Cindy. She lives a sketchy part of town, but she is very sweet. She has been taught by the missionaries before. Her biggest hang up is the polygamy thing. She also thought that we never wore pants. It's been a lot of fun teaching her.

Thursday we met with a less active lady named Carolyn. Carolyn has an incredible testimony, but has had some experiences in the past that have shaken her faith in the members. We have been trying for the past 3 weeks to get her to come to church, but she always has a health ailment suddenly pop up on Sunday mornings.

Friday was the best day ever! We met with Trisha who we have been teaching for the past couple of weeks. She was so excited to have us come over and immediately started telling us about how she has been trying to sell her house, but hasn't been able to, but we invited her to pray and to read from the Book of Mormon every night and she said she has been doing that and she had someone make an offer on her house. She has changed so much. I think one of my favorite things about the misison is being able to see how much people change. The light in their eyes; their whole appearance is different. We taught Trisha the word of wisdom...again. She said that she had actually considered getting a frozen hot chocolate that morning, but decided to get the iced coffee instead. We invited her to live the Word of Wisdom again and she said she would. Then, she grabbed her coffee and took a big slup. We told her she couldn't do that. We poured the rest of it down the sink. The best part about the whole visit was that the family down the street that are members (the Willets) have been friendshipping her since the elders started teaching her last year and Sis. Willets was there with us.She bore her testimony to Trisha and it was one of the most wonderful experiences. They both cried (tears of happiness of course) and hugged. We invited Trisha to be baptized and she said she definitely wants to. We are still trying to figure out a date though. Trisha came to church yesterday too! It was so exciting. I hope we can start teaching her son, Adam too. He is 8 years old, but hasn't ever sat in on the lessons with us. I'm just praying that Trisha won't get discouraged.

After Trisha, we went and visited with Bro. Rose. I love sharing the gospel with Bro. Rose. He is so knowledgable in the bible. It was really neat too because we had planned to teach him the Word of Wisdom, the commandments, etc. and the first thing he asked when we got there was, "I was wondering if you could tell me about any guidelines your church has and that sort of thing." We told him that we most certainly could! Bro. Rose always has deep questions that make my brain hurt and I generally have no idea how to answer them. He asked why we don't drink wine when Jesus drank wine and why everyone else drank wine in the bible.

We also met with Bro. Parker, a recent convert that evening. He had been taking the lessons from the missionaries for 50 years before the sisters were able to convince him that being baptized was probably a really good idea since he knew it was true. We taught him about service. It was a great lesson. He reminds me of Elder Scott. His wife passed away and you can definitely tell that he really does love his wife very much, just like Elder Scott always expresses in his talks.

On Saturday we met with a referral at the church building in Greenville and did a church tour. It was a great experience. The pictures in the church building make teaching about the gospel so much easier. Afterwards, we drove back to Ayden and ate dinner with the Furstenburgs. The Furstenburgs are so sweet. I love them. They have a table that all of the missionaries sign. So, my name is now on a table in their living room along with about 300 other names. It was the coolest table ever! I am doing that when I grow up and have a table of my own.

Sunday was an eventful day. I got to speak in the YSA branch. Discovery of the week: writing a talk without the internet=hard. I learned how to use my resources though!

All of our investigators in the 2nd ward didn't show up and then we had a girl named Talia come to the YSA branch for the first time. She really liked it and said she wanted to come back again. Trisha and her son came to church in the 1st ward. It made my heart happy to see them both there.

We taught Talia after our 8 hour day of church (or something like that...(8:30-4:00) and we invited her to be baptized. She said yes! Her mom is a member so she already had talked to her mom about it and she feels very strongly about everything the church teaches. I am very excited for her. She said she is really excited too.

I think that is everything! I Read from 2 Nephi 4 in one of my studies this week. It's all about repentance and it was incredible. It really hit home for Trisha when we taught her.

I hope all is well for everyone back at home. I love you all. I know that this is Christ's church restored to the earth today. Thank you for everything you do.

Love,

Sister Johnson

Week 7...I'm in Heaven!

Dear Family,

 

This week has been soooo busy. It's been great though. I have had the opportunity to ponder a lot about missionary work and I think I have learned a great deal this week.

Sis. Joseph and I had a lot of appointments fall through this week with our investigators, but we had the opportunity to contact a zillion people; most of whom were willing to listen, but didn't really desire to pursue much more after that.

When we were driving in Winterville, I saw a house that had a fire in the front lawn. We drove by and I wondered if they knew that their landscaping was on fire. I asked Sis. Joseph, but she said that she thought it must be intentional. We missed the house we were supposed to stop at and had to loop around on that street again. There wasn't anybody out there watching the fire so I told Sis. Joseph I thought we should stop and tell the people that their landscaping was on fire. So, we knocked on the door and he was on the phone and asked what we wanted to which we replied, "We just wanted to see if you knew that your landscaping was on fire?" He said "Oh my goodness, no!" and then we put out the fire on his lawn, gave him a pass along card, and that was the end. So I guess that was our service moment of the week: save a house from burning down.

One of our investigators, Sis. Jones had a setback this week. (I can't even remember if I told you about her...there are so many people!) Sis. Jones is married to a less active-he has been coming to church every week since we contacted them and he really desires for their family to be sealed and strengthened by the gospel. She was supposed to be baptized this past Saturday, but when we went to visit her this past week we could tell that something wasn't quite right. She told us that she didn't feel like she and her husband were really working together to build a strong relationship that could be centered on the gospel ( I thought it was so neat to see that she could identify that herself). She said she wanted to make the church a part of her life and not just jump right into being baptized. We set some goals with them for praying and reading everyday together and when we saw her at church on sunday, it was like the difference between night and day. She is normally a very reserved, quiet person, but this past Sunday, she was happy and smiling and laughing and talking to people on her own. We talked to her and she said that she could feel a huge difference. We invited her to be baptized on the 30th because her husband and herself are going out of town the following week. She said she would think about it, but she told the bishop she was planning on the 30th as well. It's so exciting to see the changes that occur in people as you share more about the gospel with them and they come and learn at church.

We also taught Trish this past week about the Plan of Salvation and the word of wisdom. The elders who taught her before had taught everything else and she had given up smoking for them, but still liked her coffee. After we taught her, she said she would give up the coffee and we are working on a baptismal date in August.

 

I'm loving the work here regardless of how hard it is...it's a great experience.

 

Thanks for everything y'all do. I hope everything is well.

 

Love you!

 

Love,

 

Sis. J

Week Six :)

Hello!

 

This week has been great! It's had it challenges and it's had it's high points.

We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was a great. We learned the importance of setting goals and getting the members involved in the missionary work.

Sister Joseph and I had some really great experiences this week with missionary work.

We have been trying to figure out where we should go because our area is HUGE and it's hard to plan and know where God wants us to be. We pray every night and every day to know where the Lord would want us to be and it's been really neat to see it work!

The first experience was with a couple named Zoe and Renado. Zoe was interested in the Book of Mormon, but she can't read English. Her husband, Renado thought the church was a joke and didn't have any desire to hear more.

However, when we stopped by to drop of Zoe's libro de mormon, Renado had completely changed. He had some stuff happen and wasn't happy about the consequences of his actions. He asked how it was that we were able to be happy all of the tme. We told him we could share more with him and that it was because of the gospel and how it blesses our families. He agreed to have us come back, but we didn't get to meet with them this week. We are hoping to meet with them this coming week though!

On Thursday night, Sister Joseph and I were planning backup plans for the next day and we both felt impressed to visit a lady named Trisha. Trisha lives in Grimesland which is way out of our area, but the elders had referred us to her. Trisha's husband died about 7 months ago and the sisters tried contacting her then, but she didn't want to have the missionaries over at the time.

So, we didn't know how we would be able to make it out to her because we can only drive so far. We tried calling a sister in the ward and miraculously, she could go! So, we drove to Trisha's and when we got there she was glad to see us, invited us in and told us that she had just been thinking about the missionaries not 15 minutes before we came. She said that she was so glad that we had come and that she had a dream about her coming to church. It was a neat experience and the spirit was so strong.

I know that God reveals to us where he wants us to go and guides us to those who need our help.

We've had a ton of success in the YSA branch too! It's been GREAT!

 

I can't remember if I told you much about where i live, but sister joseph and I live with a member. She is the nicest lady. Her name is Sister Carman and it's just like home.

 

I hope you all are doing well! I love and miss you all. Have a great week!

My time is up!

 

Love,

Sister Johnson

In North Carolina! 1st Week!

Faaamily!!!!!

 

 

Hello from North Carolina!

North Carolina is amazing! It's everything I could havew hoped for and more. The humidity really isn't that bad. Everything is SO green! There are literally thousands of denominations. I think every other building here is a church building of some sort. The plane ride over was good. I talked to a lady from England who has lived in Utah since the 80's. she married a member who had gone inactive when his mom died, but has been taking lessons from the missionaries and is going back to church. She asked me about mission stuff, but told me she wasn't interested in joining. On the connecting flight from Dallas I sat next to a really nice couple for Raleigh. It was kind of funny. The man asked me if I was an LDS missionary. I told him I was. He then told me that it  was my lucky day because his name was Joseph Smith. He knew a lot about the church and wished me luck on the mission.

I am currently located in Greenville, and more specifically, Ayden, NC. It is a very small town and it reminds me a lot of Idaho...kind of. This is definitely the south. Everyone knows everyone and they all have some mighty fine accents. Everything is very spread out, and there are a lot of fields (mostly tobacco and soybean fields). My companion, Sister Joseph is awesome. She is very patient, very much dedicated to missionary work, and I'm just so happy and feel incredibly blessed to be with her.

My first experience in North Carolina: we went to a member's house and ate meatloaf. Then we shared some scriptures in 2 Nephi. Then, we went and taught a lady who called the missionaries because she saw an ad on tv about mormon.org. We had a good lesson with her and I could tell she was quite touched by the spirit.

The area I am currently serving in consists of Ayden, Greenville, and Winterville. There are three wards that I am over. One of them is a YSA branch. I am so excited to be working the the YSAs. They have about 40-60 people who attend every week. There are a lot of less actives in the branch. We have had some good success contacting them and committing them to church...so that's been great! We also had a lesson with a girl who is 19 and she seems very interested in the church. She is debating joining the military and going to school. We taught her about the restoration and it went really well.

The other two wards are great too. The bishopric is so good about giving us referrals. We have TONS. We are teaching a really neat lady, Sister Jones. She is getting ready to be baptized on July 16th. Her husband is a member and she had a baby and just wants her family to be together forever. I really like teaching her.
We also have another investigator, Bro. Rose. He is the neatest man. He has had a lot of trials in his life. He decided a few years ago after his wife left him that he would read the bible every day of his life after that; and he's done just that. The other sister that was with Sis. Joseph before I came taught him the restoration. We talked to him about 2 nephi 31 and invited him to be baptized. He said that he would need to think about it, but that he had never been baptized before and that it was a goal that he wanted to accomplish.

We have several other investigators.

Tracting is hard, but I love it. It's hard just because most everyone here has some sort of religious affiliation and most of them are content with what their religion offers. It's hard to identify what they need when they simply tell you that they aren't interested and like the church they go to. I think at least 80% of the people here are baptist of some sort. We talked to a baptist minister. He wasn't interested. at all. We had a lady yell at us for talking to her brother, who has been to church quite a few times, but he had a stroke so she doesn't think he can make logical decisions for himself.

Yesterday was hilarious. It was the fourth of July and since it was p-day, we decided to have a picnic at the park. We did just that and enjoyed it very much. Then, we found some swings (which was way to much fun). We started tracting at 6 because our appointments fell through and we were trying to decide if we were in the right spot at the right time. I told sis. Joseph that I thought we were. Then, we both just about had a heart attack because some one lit of some fireworks and we thought someone was shooting at us. Sis Jospeh said, " I don't think we're in the right place" when they went off. Then, we laughed ourselves sick. I tried popping some popcorn after we got home and the bag caught on fire. I don't think my cooking skills are improving here.

 

I hope y'all had a great 4th!

I love you all and I know that this church is true and that it is through the ordinances and covenants we make that we can be with our families forever.

 

love you all!

 

sis. J