Secret Combinations

My New....NEW Companion from the Empty Sea (MTC)....

Hello from.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raleigh! Yes. Raleigh. The assistants got confused somewhere along the line and I was misinformed and thus it came to pass that I am now in Raleigh. There are a lot of cars here. It kind of freaks me out sometimes. I am used to seeing like 50 cars total everyday. Now there are 50 cars always on my tail! lol.

 

My companion is amazing! Her name is Sister Asay. She is from Taylorsville, UT and likes to sing. She is really bubbly, likes music, has red hair, and is just a great missionary. It is pretty amazing she is on a mission. She grew up in a less active family. Her family is still not active. They are supportive of her going on a mission though. She grew up going to church with her neighbors and just decided one day that she wanted to serve a mission. She has an incredible testimony. I feel like she has been out for much longer than 26 days or whatever it is now.

 

We had a crazy week. When we got transferred to Raleigh we had zero information on the area. The assistants forgot to bring the maps of our area, our phone was brand new which=no phone numbers, and the other elders didn't bring the area book....so, we were very lost and confused. Thankfully, we live the Clay family (who actually live a ways out of our area in the Falls Lake ward. They are wonderful. Bro. Clay is the high council person over missionary work in the Raleigh Stake and he was able to at least get us the names of the bishop and the ward mission leaders so we could at least do something semi-productive. The Clays are a funny older couple. They have a daughter that is still living at home too. I love living with them.

 

Wednesday we had district meeting. We were able to get our maps and our area book (huzzah!) Elder Brown and Elder Garrett from Deep Run are in my district again. It should be a fun district. We had a good lesson on charity. Charity is not so much about the act of doing something good for someone else; it is the motive behind doing it. It is what compels you to do something good for someone else. We met with a less active lady named Lisa that night. She is blind and LOVES to talk your ear off. We had a nice lesson from Enos and mixed the prodigal son in there as well. She came to church this sunday...so that is good!

 

We were also able to contact a recent convert who has gone less active named Shanti. She is amazing! She is so excited to have sister missionaries! We are going to meet with her on Thursday. She also came to church on Sunday and is probably one of the sweetest people I've met.

 

We spent most of our weekly planning going through all of the former investigators and the potentials. I hope there will be some fruit to reap from all of the time we put into going through the zillion former teaching records. The wards are amazing here. They are excited to do missionary work. The youth are on fire with missionary work. A 14 year old girl named Taylor told us that she had invited her friend Daisy to listen to the missionary lessons. She also gave her friend a Book of Mormon.

 

We tried tracting a few times this week. It was not productive at all.

 

We had the priviledge of going to zone leader/district leader council on friday. That was really neat! I wish I could be an elder sometimes. Since we are in Raleigh, we get to go to things like that now. Raleigh has perks! I learned SO much from that. It is amazing. There is so much revelation that comes from that meeting.

 

Sunday was crazy. We were running to and fro. I miss having just one ward to worry about. We went to sacrament in 1st ward, part of gospel principles, then we ran to 2nd ward sacrament, 1st ward ward council right after, and then to relief society in 2nd ward after that. Whew. I am thankful ward council is only twice a month. Bro. Henderson is our ward mission leader in the 1st ward. He is the best ward mission leader EVER. We went to his house for coordination and we went in through the back door...which I though was odd. Then, it was dark when we first went in. He cut on the lights and all of his kids and the elders and the ward missionaries shot us with nerf guns! Ahh! It was hilarious. I am so excited to serve here.

 

The Book of Mormon is true. I know that without any doubt. I was pondering this week about all the blessings of the priesthood and I am thankful for the restoration of the priesthood and that through that power we can be sealed with our loved ones for time and all eternity.

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister J

The Three Nephites Depart....

Black Saturday was actually Black Friday this week. Sister Welch and I received a phone call at approximately 9:15 pm on Friday night from Pres. Bernhisel. We were in the middle of planning when Sis. Welch looked down and said "Oh my goodness!" I screamed and fell out of my chair when Sis. Welch's eyes got really big and she said that because I thought there must be a spider or something. Not so. lol. 

We are both training. Again. I am white-washing an area. (White-washing means they are kicking the elders out and putting sisters in :] ) (ahhhhhh!)

I am going to be serving in Hope Mills! Sister Joseph and Sister Matthews, if you are out there, I would love to hear who would be good to go and see in the Hope Mills area. :)

Sis. Tillman is also getting trasnferred. She has been having a really hard time accepting that, bless her heart.

 

We had our weekly lesson with the Bunker family. We taught them the restoration with cups and it went amazingly well! The girls soaked it right up. They want to be baptized. Even better! Sis. Bunker said she would like to come to church. (we were thinking, "Whoa. Did you really just say that?") Sis. Bunker has not been to church since she was about 17 years old. Sunday morning we were pleasantly suprised to see Sis. Bunker and her three daughters at church! I don't think I could have asked for a better last sunday in Dunn. I love the Bunkers.

 

Tuesday was deep cleaning day. It definitely lived up to it's name! We spent ALL day cleaning. We found some "anitques" from missionaries long gone and dead. When we moved Sis. Welch's bed, we discovered a boogie board that the elders had been signing, a few elders' socks, a gooey skeleton man, a nerf football, and some moldy fruit pits. The kitchen was a monster. We found a really old blender, and a disgusting waffle maker that stunk so bad! Our vacuum is probably the most ineffective vacuum I have ever used. We decided it must not sit low enough so after fiddling with it for a while, we decided to take matters into our own hands and took one of the thirty pound weights sitting around our cottage and taped it to the top of the vacuum. That worked...until the belt started burning up. Sis. Tillman did a good job pushing the vacuum. :D

 

We received this amazing headquarters referral this week for a lady named Cindy. We are incredibly blessed with media referrals in this area. It is amazing to be a part of that. We received this referral for a less active member who wanted missionaries to come visit. When we went over, the less active's daughter answered the door and warmly welcomed us right in. Come to find out, the daughter (who is not a member) had been taking the lessons for about a year in South Carolina and had moved up here to care for her mother and father who are both very ill. She had asked the elders in South Carolina to send her information to us to continue the teaching about a year ago. For whatever reason, we did not have any information about her or her father (who is less active) until we received the media referral. She was really suprised to see us! We had a nice visit with her. She has been taught most everything. She is still working on quitting her coffee, but she has given up tea. She is really excited about the church and loved having the lessons in the past. I am so excited for Sis. Welch and her new companion to continue teaching her. She is amazing!

 

We had a good lesson with the Hudsons on Tuesday. Bruce has grown so much. It is neat to see how much he loves the gospel. He still has quite a few questions, but he doesn't let that discourage him. Margaret had an interesting week. She found out that she had to have back surgery (She just had back surgery today and is doing well according to Bro. Hudson). Bishop Ginn told us that after she found out, she called Bro. Dean in the ward and asked him if she could receive a priesthood blessing...we didn't even have to say anything! She was able to receive a blessing on Sunday and I think the spirit must have touched her a great deal....as her eyes were quite red when she came back into the relief society room. I hope it will be a turning point for her.

Wednesday we had district meeting. It was great as always. I really love district meeting. We closed by having a testimony meeting. It was so powerful. We went to a baptism with the Hudsons on Saturday for a lady in the Hope Mills ward. So, I got a sneak peak! It looks like a great ward. I know the Bishop already because he was the former stake ward mission leader for Fayetteville so I am feeling okay about everything. Slightly overwhelmed, but it will be good in the end. :)

We went to dinner in the evening with the Giddens (recent convert family). We went to this great place called Ron's Barn. The name of the road that the barn is on is called "Pig-Out Lane" haha...I thought it was pretty funny. That place has the best southern cooking I've ever had though! It was delicious. I have really grown to love that slow cooked pork with vinegar sauce. It is good to me!

 

Sunday was great! We had a great turn out at church. Lewis came to church. He has been going through really really hard times with his family recently, but was able to make it to church. He thanked us for not giving up on him. He said it had given him the courage to keep going and not give up on God. I love Lewis. The Hudsons came, the Bunkers came, Jan came. It was great. Poor Sis. Knight ended up in the hospital with kidney stones so we got a call on Saturday night at about 10 pm to teach gospel principles. It was definitley 100% improv. The lesson was on the millenium. I discovered that I know nothing about the millenium. Now I know some things about it though. It was a fun lesson regardless.

I love the Dunn ward so much. They are such wonderful people. I will miss them so much, but at least I'll still be in the same stake and stake conference is coming up in a couple of weeks!

 

I have learned a lot about trusting in the Lord since I've been a full-time missionary. I thought I knew what it meant to trust in the Lord before I decided to serve a mission, but discovered that I really had no idea what it meant. I don't think I even understand it completely now, but I do feel like I have a deeper understanding of that now. I am thankful the Lord gives us experiences that are difficult and allow us to learn and grow. They really do teach us how to trust in Him. Proverbs 3:5-6!

 

I love yall! Have a wonderful week! Keep pressing forward!

 

Sincerely,

 

Sister Johnson

 

ps-here is a picture of us as the "three nephites". The weight represents spiritual strength, the Book of Mormon is just the keystone of everything, and the broom is the sword of truth. The next one is a picture of sister Tillman pushing the 30 pound weight on the vacuum.  The bottom picture is a picture of the district. Enjoy the pictures!

 

 

The 3 Nephites...going to battle!

A 30 pound vacuum really sucks!

The District...:)

 

Twas A Long Week in Dunn...

Hello from Dunn!

 

We had a good week this week.

I learned how to tie a tie! We had coordination meeting with Bro. Christensen and Lewis (investigator) came for dinner. He asked Bro. Christensen to help him tie his ties because he didn't know how. So, we all ended up learning. I can now cross that off of the bucket list of things I want to do in life. Yes! Lewis ended up getting pretty frustrated with the whole thing and just tied it in a knot. Then Bro. Christensen was being funny and told us to roll our ties up to our chins to have a race to see who would win.

Bro. Christensen:"On your mark, get set, GO!" We all let go.

Sister Welch says, "who won?"

Bro. Christensen says, "It was a tie." lol. Oh my gracious.

I tried okra for the first time ever (that I know of) It is delcious! Sister Christensen told us fried okra is really good. Last I checked, most everything fried is really good. Mmm!

 

Sister Tillman went all out last preparation day and we had a cookie baking extravaganza. I was mostly there for moral support...and taste testing. :) It was nice to have some genuine homemade galletas (cookies). We had a semi-productive lesson with part member family, the Bunkers. Their daughters love love love the missionaries. We watched the restoration movie with them and talked about the Book of Mormon. Halie, the oldest said she could feel the spirit really strong and knows it's true. They are a great family. I really love them. Their dog sat on me again. He thinks he is a person. lol.

 

We have found this great trail that goes behind our house. It is a bike/run trail and it's pretty well wooded. It is gorgeous in the mornings. We had a really good run tuesday morning. There is a nice old man that walks every morning in his plaid shirts and walking stickS that we see most days that we run. He told us if we keep it up we will be in the next olympics! I love positive reinforcement even if it is a long shot. We went and saw Jan with Sis. Knight and she is doing very well. She is such a sweet lady. I love her a lot. She just got her first visiting teaching route. Sis. Knight is her companion and she is so excited to go and visit teach. It's like she has the "greenie fire". On that note, I decided this week after much debating for the past 17 weeks that I am really thankful that they stick us "more seasoned" missionaries with the young ones. They keep your motivation going. It's brilliant!  We had a great line up the rest of the afternoon, but unfortunately, everyone stood us up. Bishop even came out on exchanges with us, but our appointment bailed. We ended up going to see the Herman family. The Hermans probably think all of us sister missionaries must dye our hair and that we are really all blondes. Our conversation included some of the following:

Sister Welch: where are you from?

Bro. Herman: Chicago.

Sister Welch: Oh okay, but not Illinois right?

Bro. Herman: No. It is Illinois.

Sister Welch: Chicago is in Illinois?

Bro. Herman: No. It's in Indiana.

Sister Welch: There is a Chicago in Indiana?

Bro. Herman: (dying of laughter) No. It's in Illinois.

Sister Welch: Oh haha...okay.

 

Me: Does your family get to read scriptures together?

Bro. Herman: Yes. Except on the days that end in 'y'.

Me: (processing each day of the week in my head) Don't they all end in 'y'?

Bro. Herman: Man, y'all are slow!

 

I didn't know which way was up and down by the time we left there. I like the Hermans. I guess they thought we were alright. They invited us back for dinner! Maybe they just want to make fun of us...

 

We met with investigator, Laura on wednesday. She is amazing! She downloaded the gospel library on her phone and she has been reading a ton! She got a little confused though because she was reading about adoption for children born outside of wedlock. She asked us if that meant that she would have to give her children up for adoption. haha. We reassured her that she wouldn't and had a nice discussion about the law of chastity from there. We also taught the word of wisdom and whilst discussing found out that the chocolate chip frappe from McDonalds has coffee in it. Great! A member told us previously it didn't have coffee in it so Sis. Tillman bought one and it was delcious. We were informed by Laura that it does indeed have coffee. We have since repented of our heathen ways. Sister Tillman invited her to be baptized. She was so excited. She has really struggled to speak up much in lessons and since then, it seems like her confidence has soared. We met with the Hudsons and had the Dominguez family come along. They brought their little two year old. She was bouncing off the wall! It went pretty well all things considered. Bruce was really excited because he just read Doctrine and Covenants 87 about the civil war. "why don't you just start off by sharing that with everyone? that is incredible!" I love Bruce. He is so funny.

 

We weekly planned incredibly fast on Thursday. I love being done with weekly planning quickly! We spent the evening contacting people and it was a very long evening seeing as not many people appeared to be home.

 

Saturday was interesting. We had a lot of time for proselyting. We had tried and tried and tried to set up appointments with people, but nothing was working out. So, we went to contact a potential out by Bunnlevel (yes, there is a city called Bunnlevel). We are running a bit low on miles so we decided to head out on foot once we arrived at the potentials house and she was not there. We enjoyed a nice walk through some tobacco fields, a few rain showers, and a wonderful breeze. (I am so thankful for a breeze. I think that is what has made this summer tolerable.) We talked to quite a few nice people. We went further into Bunnlevel in hopes of contacting a less active family there, but they (like most everyone else) had headed to the beach for the weekend. We did contact their grandson though. He is really interested and said he would like to read the Book of Mormon. (yes!) After a long day, we headed home, planned and I went to bed.

 

Sunday was sunday. No one came to church. :( The talks were really very good all about following Christ's example, humility and gratitude. It was a very edfiying meeting. We did have a lesson in the evening with a couple named  Dennis and Sherry. They were very friendly. Sherry reminds me a lot of Kia from Greenville (if you remember me writing about her).

 

well, this saturday is "black saturday" (aaaahhh!) we are all a little nervous, but it will be good.

 

I read 1 nephi 8, 11, and 12 this past week. They are such good chapters. I would invite you to read 1 Nephi 8 and see if you are holding to the rod. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Every page is true and I know that it truely blesses us.

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister J

Rollercoaster Life of a Missionary

Hello!

I loved the pictures of Ashlyn's baptism! She is such a doll. Lance is looking studly too and dad, you are looking fantastic!

Missionary work is like permanent ride on a rollercoaster! Enough said. I don't want to go to an amusement park for a long time.

So last preparation day we went "hiking" (it was more like a nature walk...) by the cape fear river. It's a gorgeous river. Lots of people like to go kayaking. (not sure on the spelling there). It was so nice to just be able to get out and walk around. There were some pretty nasty clouds that were coming towards us, but we prayed that they wouldn't start dumping rain on us...and they didn't! Heavenly Father does answser prayers. We drove up to Fuquay in the evening to recontact a referral that we all felt impressed to go by again. The same girl answered the door. She was a lot nicer this time than the first time. Nothing really came of it, but we all knew we had done the right thing in going back and talking to her again. Sister Welch has this hilarious talk called, "Life is a Game of Football" by Troy Dunn. Go look it up and prepare yourself to laugh and gain greater understanding of the Plan of Salvation. It is so funny. We listened to it in the car on the way home. It was great.

Tuesday was one of those really big drops on the rollercoaster of life, but thankfully there was a good recovery. :) We received a headquarters referral for a lady named Laura. Her story was pretty neat. She met a lady on facebook who apparently is a member. The member lady posted a mormon message or something and Laura saw it and started asking questions. The lady told her a little about the church and Laura wanted to learn more! So, the member got her information and sent it to us. I love member missionary work. Laura is SO prepared. It is crazy! We went with Sister Anderson to  meet with her and had a great lesson with her. She told us she wants to start cutting back on her caffeine intake and that she doesn't beleive you should wear revealing clothing. She reminds me a lot of dear Clara from Deep Run. She's in the same situation too. Now we just need to help her get married! :D She is so sweet though. I love her already. We also had a good lesson with Jan and the Hudsons. We taught them about the Fall and the Atonement. Elder Holland told us when he came that we should never teach the Fall without teaching the Atonement. You know what's so neat about the Atonement. It makes all the negative signs in life positive signs! With the Atonement, everything comes up roses in the end. So, I didn't have time last week to tell y'all about how funny Sis. Hudson was when we went to the fireside last Sunday. The Hudsons had not met many elders prior to this fireside and our whole zone was there. As one wave of elders came in, Sis. Hudson leans over to Sis. Welch and says, "Those are some fine young men!" Sis. Welch says, "Well, there's a pretty big age difference so they're not much of a distraction really." Then a second wave of elders came in and Sis. Hudson leans over again and tells us, "You might want to consider going younger." lol. Oh my...Sis. Hudson is pretty funny. No chance Sis. Hudson. :]

We had zone training on Wednesday. I don't like accounting. The lessons were really good though. Elder Otteson gave a lesson on member missionary work and started out by asking us why we didn't do missionary work prior to the mission. That'll make you think. He then asked us what had changed since then. We came up with a big list. One of the most important factors was personal conversion. He also said, "you get what you go for." We went and visited a couple of less active members in the afternoon and just had a great time doing missionary work.

We went to Cookout for lunch on Thursday. I got a FOOTLONG hotdog; and I ate the whole thing. I have no regrets. It was delicious. We then commenced the wonderful weekly planning session and then had a nice visit with the Foster family. They are really young. They just went through the temple last December, but are struggling a little bit. We talked about the Law of Sacrifice. I love teaching people about sacrifice and putting up collateral. I think it's one of my most favorite things to teach.

We witnessed a miracle on Friday. We decided to drive out to the edge of Dunn to contact a part member family that no one had been able to contact for quite a while. We just showed up and they welcomed us right in and we had a nice chat. They have a huge dog that tried to sit on me and wouldn't move. The dad and the three daughters are not members. We asked the girls what they thought about taking the lessons again and they're all for it! Now we just need to get the parents on board. We were so excited though! They are such a great family.

All of our appointments cancelled on Saturday except for one. It was disappointing to say the least. We had a good lesson with less active Bro. King on agency though. Nothing too exciting to report though.

Sunday was great! Laura and the Hudsons came to church. Laura has been reading a lot. She downloaded the gospel library onto her phone. She's so funny. She was reading conference talks all during sacrament meeting. She seemed to really enjoy church. The Hudsons are the Hudsons. More active than most members o the church are. We had dinner with the Bennet Family who just went through the temple last month to be sealed. They are so great. Sis. Bennet is awesome. She has such a strong testimony of everything really. We asked her about the blessings of being sealed as a family. She told us that it has helped her put things into perspective and that everytime something bad happens she just takes a step back and realizes that it's just the adversary and so she does those things that drive him out (like prayer, FHE, scriptures, church, etc.)

Among other exciting events of this week: we received word that Nathan from Deep Run was baptized this past week! Hooray! He looked ridiculously happy in the picture. Also, I finished the Book of Mormon! I love the Book of Mormon and it really is my favorite book now. I never thought I would say that. All missionaries say that. I would just say, "yeah right. whatever." But really. It is the best book. I love it and what it can do.

I love you all. Thank you for your continued love and support. The Book of Mormon can heal the wounded soul and bring lasting peace and happiness as we live by it's precepts (that's the tricky part :] )

Love you all!
Love, Sister J