December 12, 2011

Dear Family, Friends, and so forth,

First, I just want to say, I love you all. We had a crazy busy week this week.

Sister Welch and I spent like 3 hours at WallyWorld on Monday trying to make Christmas cards and find Christmas gifts. (Walmart is basically the only store here...and it's actually in Kinston). We went to the GCF afterwards (which is like DI) and found some shirts and skirts for really cheap. DI is a rip off compared to GCF.

On Tuesday we had deep cleaning! It took all. day. It was the most cleaning I have ever done in my life. We dejunked the "Magic Marry Poppins Closet" (named for it's ability to store endless amounts of junk and clothes from previous sisters who served in the area), cleaned the fridge and freezer (it was gross), our food storage shelf, the bathroom (that was gross too), and everywhere else that you can imagine. We didn't finish until 6 that night. We spent some time after that trying to contact some referrals, but had no luck. Then, we went to the Relief Society Enrichment Dinner that evening and called a less active girl named Beverly to come. She came and we had dinner together and then President Walker (stake president) spoke to us. He gave a really good talk about "becoming" He told us about the differences between a person who is honorable and one who is valiant; one who has a testimony; and one who is converted. He said that in order to be truely converted we need to learn how to "become." He gave us two things to remember in order to become: 1) remember the power of the covenants you have made (baptismal and temple) 2) have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. He said that we can do these things by having charity (read 1 corinthians 13). "Becoming" means that Heavenly Father gives us trials and afflictions to overcome ( 1 Nephi 20:10) These experiences allow us to grow and to see people differently that we would have before. I learned a lot from him. I am thankful to be in this stake right now.

Wednesday was zone training! We had a really good zone training. We learned about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion..the voice that can be felt rather than heard and how it's important that we teach people how to use the Book of Mormon to go spiritually fishing when they read instead of just giving them a fish. We need to learn how to use the Book of Mormon. We also learned about adding our living witness of whatever we are teaching and why it is important. When we testify of truth, the Holy Ghost confirms that truth to those who are listening. We found some good scriptures for how an indvidual can qualify to have the spirit with them as well. ( 2 Nephi 31:13; 3 Nephi 9:20; Alma 17:2-3; Helaman 3:35; Mosiah 3:19) They are just a few...but they are really good to read through! We went over Elder Bednar's talk about becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary. He gave that talk when I was in the MTC. We also talked about having an "anti-tracting week" where we don't tract at all, but try to use the other finding ideas in the front of our planners. President Cotterell pointed out that tracting was #11 on that list and that should indicate something to us. Sister Welch and I are going to try not to tract as much this week....for some reason it is hard to not tract...even though tracting is one of the less exciting things about missionary work. When we were driving home from Kinston afterwards, it was really, really windy and our ward mission leader in the Woodington ward called us to tell us we should go home because the wind was blowing. It is nice that people are so concerned for us. It is funny that they worry about things like that though.

Thursday was weekly planning and since Sister Welch and I were really pumped about everything we had learned in zone training, it took us FOREVER to finish weekly planning. We weekly planned very well for this coming week. We tried to think outside the box and it was a good learning experience...everything is a learning experience really. We had an interesting dinner appointment. We had rice with beef stuff that hadn't been drained of any of the fat and I think she threw in a couple of sticks of butter with it as well. It was nice lip balm. We met with the Turners in the evening and finished teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Then, we had the kids explain everything to us with the visuals we made. Austin was able to tell us everything perfectly and Kaitlin was able to organize it all into the right spot...even the three degrees! Austin was really excited to share with us that he hadn't been planning on waking up to come to church on sunday because he had been up late that night, but that for some reason he woke up and then he went into the dining room and told his dad (who was getting ready to leave for church) that he wanted to come to church. He said it was wierd because it was like someone was speaking for him and that he wasn't sure why he really wanted to come to church. It was a tender mercy to hear that story. He said that he is starting to like church. We also invited Kaitlin to say the closing prayer (she gets really nervous about praying in front of people). She initially wouldn't do it, but we were able to encourage her some and she did it! Her mama helped her, but she did it!

Friday we finally had a normal day of missionary work...mostly. We tried contacting some part member families and then we went and did library service. We have been tlaking to a lady named Tasha who is a less active member who works at the library. Her husband isn't a member and she wanted us to come over, but she is outside of our area...barely. She is such a happy person. She was telling us funny stories about her family the whole time we were there and she brought her Ipod and speakers so we could listen to christmas music while we shelved books. I found out that I was going to be speaking on sunday. So, we went home and wrote a talk up really quick. I spoke on "how to gain a testimony" using Alma 32. I talked about Hurricane Irene and how some of the trees had been uprooted and some had not and how we could relate that to our testimonies. We need to be have a deep root system so when the storms of life try to blow us over we can stay standing and strong.

Saturday all of our appointments feel through. We went out with Sister Roxann in the Albertson ward and did some work out in Mt. Olive. We talked to the Relief Society President's mother. She told us that she knew the Book of Mormon was true, but that she wasn't going to change because she was stubborn. That was her only excuse. She said that she couldn't change because she had been baptist for so long. Even though she knows it's true. We talked about testimonies and how we should always bear testimony of what we know to be true. I think the she didn't really appreciate that, but it was a good lesson none-the-less.

Sunday we played "run around like chickens with your heads cut off" again. We went to Woodington's sacrament, gave talk, ran to Albertson only to be disappointed because Claire didn't show up, stayed there, had meetings, meetings, meetings, appointment with Sarah and her mom, Amy, ran back to Woodington to do choir stuff and then we went to dinner with the Turner Family (ALL of them). The Turner family is Sarah (recent convert) and Austin and Kaitlin's family. We had fish stew. It was really disgusting looking, but very good. It is tomato based, has bacon, fish, shrimp, potatoes, onions, carrots, and eggs (i left those out). It was good; and really spicy. We also tried "real" hotdogs. They are pork, and are dyed red. According to the people of Deep Run, other hotdogs are not real.

Well, my time is gone. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that when we read from it and pray daily, we can draw closer to God than we can in any other way. I have seen it in my own life and in others' lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. That He lives so that we can live again. I am grateful for that knowledge. I know that we are never alone. Even when we are in the depths of sorrow and despair. We are never left alone. Read President Uchtdorf's talk from conference...because it is amazing!
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/you-matter-to-him?lang=eng&query=october+dieter+(name%3a"Dieter+F.+Uchtdorf")
I was reading the lyrics to Hark the Herald Angels Sing yesterday. They are amazing. I am grateful for our Savior and that we can celebrate Him at this time of year.

Love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Johnson