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...:)