Take me home on a stretcher

Family!

Solar flares, half-way day, and five zillion appointments (not really, but there were a lot...), Young Women New Beginnings, and so much more! It was a crazy, crazy week! I love being busy. Last Sunday we sent around an exchange sign up sheet and had a pleasing response from the Albertson sisters. We had exchanges for basically every hour of the day this week..and we saw many, many miracles because of it.

Monday: Happy National Pancake Day!...but then we found out that it wasn't actually today. I guess it was on Feb. 28th. To those of you who have access to electronic devices who can keep you up to date on these sorts of important events, I hope you took full advantage of eating pancakes on Feb 28th. If not, you can always celebrate late! Preparation day was a typical preparation day. We emailed, we shopped, we cleaned, we wrote a couple of letters and organized our lives and then it was over! Time goes so fast. I suppose that's not always a bad thing. We also went to the chiropractor again and got to talk to a lady about what we do as missionaries. I gave her a pass along card before we went into get Sis M's back cracked. I hope she goes to mormon.org!
PS-to all you members out there, you can make a profile on mormon.org and it is a great tool to use to share the gospel with your friends/colleagues/family/acquaintances. They can look up your profile and learn more about the church! I invite each of you to make one. :] We had dinner with the RS president and her family (from Woodington ward) that night and had a great FHE lesson about scripture study with them. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon together as a family during this year. Our goal with the members here is to strengthen their faith by inviting each of them and their families to read the Book of Mormon. Sis M and I are super excited about this!

Tuesday: We went to Seven Springs to meet with Sis. Anderson and former investigator, Claudia. We had a delicious lunch of homemade pizza and salad (i love vegetables so much). Claudia used to live in Cali and went to church for over a year there. She has taken the missionary lessons before and faithfully attended church. She just has a hard time accepting that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We asked her how she felt about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it. She agreed to do that. Sis. Anderson has been such a good friend to her. She called us a few days after we met with Claudia and told us that they had talked for quite a while after we left and that Claudia knows what she needs to do; it's just a matter of doing it. We also met with Denise. We brought Sis. Howard (RC) along. They have a lot in common. Poor Denise is struggling with so many things right now. She needs to let the atonement work in her life. Right after our appointment with Denise, we met with Sis. Pate and headed to Beulaville to contact a referral there. The referral is an older couple (in their 70's). Their names are A.L. and Pauline. A.L.'s sister-in-law (who is a member in the Woodington ward) referred us to them and we went over as soon as we could! They allowed us to come in and we had really good lesson with them. They have had many, many trials. Sometimes I think my life is hard...and then I find out that really, it is not that bad compared to what other people have been through. We were able to talk about why bad things happen to good people. We read 2 Nephi 2:2. I read a talk a while back about trials in life and even when we are doing good, that does not mean we are exempt from being tried. That is part of life. Elder Christofferson said, "If you think that because you are trying to be good that you should be exempt from having bad things happen, then you need to have a chat with Job!" I thought it was pretty funny... A.L. and Pauline invited us to come back. A.L. believes what we teach is true. Pauline insists that she is going to be Pentacostal forever. She kept throwing out those "stump the missionary questions." It didn't work. :] Sis. M and I were both so beat by the end of the day we felt like we needed to be carried home on stretchers. I slept like a rock that night.

Wednesday: Happy Half-way day! Everyone asked me what I did to celebrate being half way done: I threw away a pair of tights. We aren't allowed to play with fire...so I just chucked them in the garbage can. Good bye old tights! We had district meeting in Kinston. The lesson was very good as it always is. We talked about the difference between telling vs. showing in 2 Nephi 32 and then we talked about using the Book of Mormon in the conversion process. I read a talk called, "Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change" a while back and it just solidified my testimony of how important it is to endure to the end by continuing to do those things that invite the spirit (Spiritual CPR! church, pray, and read) We talked about how conversion occurs in the heart...where we feel. We went to lunch with Sis. Robionson and the elders afterwards to a Mexican restaurant and then we skedaddled to Albertson to start another run of exchanges. We went with Sis. Carter and drove all over the place. No one was home. The backup plans of the backup plans were falling through. Finally, we were able to meet with Sis. Potter, who has been ill. She is a sweet older lady who is so worried about doing everything she can so that she can be with her husband and son who have passed away. She feels like she needs to do more than she is. I don't see how that would be possible. She is an incredible lady. I love old people... We went to dinner with Carmen (Matthew's (RC) ex-girlfriend) Matthew is struggling. It is so hard to be strong when everyone around you is trying to get you to go against what is right. Poor kid. It breaks my heart to heart that. I'm confident he'll come around though.

Thursday we went out with Sis. Herring and met with a less active lady named Christy. We had a good lesson with her and invited her to read the Book of Mormon with her family. She agreed to that. We then went on another adventure to find someone who would be home that we could share the gospel with with Sis. Stainback. We had no luck until we decided to stop by Clara's house. We got to see her baby, Julian and he was a cutie! Clara was so happy. She was just glowing. She is a good mom to her kiddos. We had a good lesson with her and then we were quickly swept away to meet the Heaths. We went to Beulaville with them and met with a potential named Kayla. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and prayer. She was hilarious. She reminded me a lot of a good friend of mine. She told us that "you aren't crazy if you talk to yourself and you aren't crazy if you answer yourself. You're only crazy if you argue with the answer you gave yourself." lol. I think this is further evidence that I am, in fact crazy. :] Thursday was Solar flare day! We went to get some pizza and they had a sign up that said they couldn't accept credit/debit card due to the solar flares.

Friday finally slowed down a bit. We met with LA sis. Moody and RC Sis. Moore at the church and read the "forget-me-not" talk by pres. uchtdorf. I love that talk. Especially the part about the "why" of the gospel. If we don't know why we are doing things, then why are we doing them?

Saturday was Young Women's new beginnings program. They invited us for dinner (grits, sausage, cinnamon rolls, eggs, and pancakes...oh and WHOLE milk) and enlisted me as pianist. We played a really pretty version of the Lord is my Light and had a good evening.

Sunday we taught gospel principles about sacrifice. Favorite scriptures: 3 nephi 9:20 and Matthew 19:29. Afterwards, we went to choir practice and then had a lesson with Greg. We made flash cards with all of the commandments on them and he chose which ones he wanted to learn about first. We committed him to start cutting back with smoking and to read and pray everyday! Hooray for the gospel changing lives. It is amazing. The hard part is letting it continue to change you.

Well, my time is running short. I love you all very, very much and appreciate the love and support and everything else you continue to give.
The church really is true.

Love you!

Love,
Sis J

Early Summer? (March 5, 2012)

Dearest Family and Friends,

The weather here was fantastic this past week! We enjoyed 70's and 80's for most of the week. I am a little worried about what summer will bring though...
We are now back to the 50's and 60's though. I felt like we were camping when I woke up this morning. We decided to not turn on the gas heater last night. When we woke up this morning my nose was frozen! It was just like camping! I never thought I would get the camping experience on a mission. I guess that will make up for the lack of camping that was done pre-mission...lol

This past week was a bit challenging, but we persevered! Monday we made a trip to the chiropractor. I got a haircut. It is really short. It's wonderful! I don't know why I didn't cut it all off sooner...
In the evening we met with a less active sister. She has a lot of personal struggles and past events that make it hard for her to go back to church. My heart ached for her. She is a convert to the church and she really knows that there was something to it because of the feeling she got when she was confirmed. I know she'll come back.

Tuesday was deep clean day! We did A LOT of cleaning. We cleaned the magic closet out and now have several bags of junk to take to the Goodwill store ( it is like the DI out west) We made plans to go and see our investigator, Denise whom we have been unable to get a hold of since we set a baptism date with her. She wasn't home. :(

Wednesday we had another spirit filled district meeting focusing on the doctrine, principle, and application of the topics in Preach My Gospel. Apparently, there is a talk about this called, "Increase in Learning" by Elder Bednar.It was so exciting because Sis. Matthews and I have been working on figuring out these elements for each of the topics taught in PMG chapter 3. Afterwards, we had a picture taking extravaganza because it was the last district meeting of the transfer. I'll bet we took a hundred zillion pictures (that might be a slight exaggeration). I was all pictured out by the end! My shins hurt too because I had the brilliant idea that we should do jumping pictures. We ended up doing several. Ouch. We contacted a lot of referrals during the afternoon. Unfortunately, most people told us they were not interested before we even got to say much of anything. But, that is okay. No effort is wasted. We had dinner at the Grays. Spaghetti! Mmmm! I don't even know when the last time was that I had spaghetti...we eat collards and pork and corn bread a lot though. The YW in the Woodington ward asked if we would be able to play a song for their New Beginnings program so we ended up at the church that evening practicing with them. One of our potential investigators was there. Her name is Amber! She is a cute 12 year old girl. Her parents are recent converts.

Thursday we went and saw Clara. She still hadn't had Julian! (her baby). We had a good lesson with her about the Proclamation to the Family. That is a very bold statement given by Pres. Hinckley. She loved it. We brought her a framed copy and she put it in on top of their entertainment center in the very center of everything else that was there. She said she wants to make sure her boyfriend will see it and read it. They are still working on getting the last passport...
We had lunch with Sister Anderson (who is from Denmark) and Sister Stainback who is just plain awesome. We ate french onion soup which was yummy and quiche. The quiche was good. My tummy did not like the quiche though. I was sick the rest of the afternoon and our appointment with potential investigator Amber fell through as did our appointment with Greg.

Friday we received a phone call from Pres. Cotterell and were both panicking because Saturday was "black saturday" and we were worried that one of us was going to be transferred. We called him back and after discussing some things for a few minutes he asked us what we thought about staying together for another transfer. We were both like, "yeah!" So, Sis. Matthews and I will be together for yet another transfer! That means I will be in "God's country" (aka Deep Run) for 6 months! We did library service. When we walked into the library, Tasha was sitting at her desk reading the Ensign! The gospel changes lives. I could say that a million times. I probably will. It is so exciting to see how she has changed from when we first started talking to her at the library. We talked to her about stake conference. She loved it! She said Elder Scott's talk was definitely her favorite. We met with less active Sister Nichols in the evening. She loves the church, but has a hard time getting up and going to get there in time. She is also quite downtrodden about life. We talked about tender mercies of the Lord. I've been learning a lot about tender mercies this week. (see 1 Nephi 1:20 and Alma 34:38) I read a good talk from Pres. Monson about having an attitude of gratitude and we talked about that and the things we were thankful for that day. We have so much to be thankful for each day. Some days it is harder to pick out the things we are thankful for, but when you do figure out those tender mercies, they become so precious. It is something Sis. Matthews and I have always done and it puts a smile on your face when you can look around and see how wonderfully blessed we are. Sometimes I think I forget that, but then there is always someone or something there to remind me of what I know.

Saturday it poured buckets of rain! Luckily it was warm rain. We even had some thunder and lightening! We decided to stop by Denise again. She wasn't home so we drove a ways down the street and stopped at a less active family's home. They let us in and as we were talking, another car pulled up and three people came into their house. We invited them to sit in and listen. Then, as we were getting ready to share our scripture, another car pulled up and the in-home nurse came in and they invited her to listen to our message. It was pretty neat! We got to teach the gospel to four people who had never even heard much about the church. We decided to drive the long way around to see if Denise was home. She was! We quickly jumped out of the car and with our umbrellas, trudged through the mud and puddles to her doorstep. She just so happened to be getting out of her car right as we walked up. So, we talked to her for a bit...which then turned into almost an hour. She has been reading some and there have been a lot of good things that have happened to her! (prayers are answered!) We were able to set up a return appointment and went on our merry way in the rain and mud. The elders had a baptism so we went to that. It was a very sweet spirited baptism. The lady that was baptized had been investigating the church for YEARS and finally decided it was time to kick her habits and do what she knew was right. It was so neat. We had dinner with Recent convert, Jennifer. We watched Saturday's Warrior with her. It brought back a lot of good memories as a child....that movie is hilarious.

Sunday every feasible plan that we had made was completely foiled except for church. Clara had her baby! (prayers answered!) Sister Matthews and I realized that we have a lot of work to do here in strengthening members' faith as much as nonmembers' faith here. We have a new goal to make sure we are extending commitments to everyone we talk to.

Well, my time is far spent. I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do! Go serve your neighbor!

All my love,

Sister Johnson

Look for the Bright moments in Life.

Hello from Deep Run!

I hope you all had a splendid week! There are lots of good things going on in these neck o' the woods. The weather here is kind of ridiculous. It was wonderful weather for part of the week (70's and 80's) and then on Friday we had a downpour and it has been much cooler since then. (40's and 50's). At least it's not freezing anymore!

We had an eventful Monday last week. Sister Matthews' back has been causing some problems so we made a trip to the chiropractor. We were there for a VERY long time; like 2 hours. That is a long time to sit and do nothing. The doctor we went to is a member in the Kinston ward. After the chiropractor we made a very quick shopping excursion before our preparation day expired. I guess we didn't really do much, but it just takes a long to go from one place to the next so it adds up!

Tuesday our appointment with Denise fell through. She has been struggling to deal with all of the adversity that has come up since we have been meeting with her. I learned something about this from her. When we focus a lot on the negative things of life, we will undoubtedly experience more opposition. There is a quote somewhere out there by Pres. Hinckley that says that we should not seek out the storms of life, but to look for the sunshine. I hope we can meet with her soon and help her understand that God's hand is in all things and to focus more on looking for the tender mercies of the Lord. The Turners cancelled on us and said that they would not be able to meet with us for the next two weeks. :( Brother Turner is having some health issues that are making it difficult to meet with us. However, we were able to meet with them on Thursday and had a good lesson about the word of wisdom with them. This week has been a "word of wisdom week."

Wednesday we had a really good district meeting about inviting people to make changes in their lives. Most people won't make changes unless they are invited to do so. We learned how to help a few of our investigators from the role plays that we did and read from Moroni 7. We talked about the importance of maintaining daily contact with our investigators because Satan also maintains daily contact with our investigators. I really do wish that I could elbow him in the neck sometimes. (sigh). We had the best lesson ever with Clara. We read the talk, "The Power of Covenants" by Elder Christofferson and talked to her about making covenants and how important it was and the blessings that come from making and keeping covenants. She promised us that she would come to church this week and that she would make an appointment so that her boyfriend can get his picture ID and they can be married. She hasn't had her baby yet. I don't think God will allow that to happen until she gets this business figured out with being married and all. :)

We had a good lesson with LA, Beverly on Thursday. I got eaten alive by mosquitos...in February! Unreal. She has been taking her lunch break and going to the Kinston ward so she can at least take the sacrament. It is amazing how much her countenance has changed since she has been doing that. She is so much happier too. Afterwards, we met with RC, Jennifer and talked about enduring to the end. We watched a mormon message from Sister Dalton about running a marathon and how we are never left alone even though we may feel like that sometimes. She is incredible. I love her lots.

Friday we met with the Greg and Miranda. Greg is hilarious. We talked about faith and he doesn't see the need to change his life because everything seems to be going fine as it is right now. We talked a little bit about commandments and he doesn't understand why keeping the commandments are so important. We are looking forward to teaching him about the "why" of the commandments. There really is no point in doing something unless you understand why you are doing it.

Saturday was the adult session of Stake conference. Jennifer gave us a ride there. It was hilarious. The talks were great. We sang "Follow the Prophet" for the rest hymn and I think we all need to go back to primary. No one was following the conductor and it ended up failing partway through. We were all dying of laughter. The stake presidency made up one of the verses. It goes as follows,
"Thomas is a prophet, prophet of the world.
Visits every nation, bringing them God's word.
With a sense of humor, he looks you in the eye,
go about the rescue is his battle cry."
It was probably the funniest scene I have ever seen in my life in a stake conference. I love the Kinston stake. I got see a lot of people from Greenville...since they're in the same stake. Brittany who was just baptized like a month ago was there. She has changed so much. It is amazing how the gospel changes lives. She is going strong. She touched my heart when she told me that she was thankful that I had come into her life. I told her that she had changed me more than I had probably done for her. Anyways, it was a nice confirmation to know that no effort is wasted in missionary work. I got to see sis. Carman too! It was like a family reunion.

Sunday we had a broadcast and Elder Scott spoke. (I met his brother on Saturday night. He is the temple president here). There were a lot of good things learned there. Clara and Greg both came to church. :) Oh, I also ate corn that had been in the freezer for at least 5 years according to sister Nanny Mae. I wouldn' t recommend keeping corn that way. She makes me laugh.

Well, my time is up, I love you all and hope you have a great week. Thank you for all you do! The church is true.

Love you!

Love,
Sister J

February 20, 2012

Dear Family,

Hello! It has been a great week here in Deep Run. The scripture of the
week is D&C 64:33 and the church reader board of the week is "The best
vitamin for a Christian is B1."

Monday was a good day. We went into town and did some shopping and
that was about it for preparation day. We found out there is a tractor
museum down the street from the library so we want to go see that for
sure one of these preparation days. :]

Tuesday we had zone training! It was great. We learned all about
charity and asking referrals from everyone. We did a role play where
we stood in a circle and then the Jr companions stood outside the
circle and we rotated and took turns asking for referrals in different
situations (dinner appointments, ward council, exchanges, and so
forth) It was fun! I never thought role plays could be fun... The part
about charity was really good too. I have gained a testimony of
updating the area book every night and how that helps build charity
for the area. Charity is important. We were able to meet with the
Turner family in the evening. Austin is reading everyday now, but
Caitlin is not. Caitlin comes to church, but Austin does not. Aaaah!
So frustrating. At least they are making some progress though. We are
praying and then praying some more that they will start keeping all of
their commitments. I found some good scriptures about "considering our
ways" (the choices we are making) and whether they are worthwhile.
(see Haggai 1:6-7) I learned a while back that people tend to try to
find peace and comfort through temporal means. Those things only stay
so long before they are gone, but the things that bring lasting peace
and comfort are prayer, scripture study, and church attendance.

Wednesday was planned to be a super busy day, but ended up being a
not-so-busy day. Clara (Claire...I just found out that I have been
calling her the wrong name for almost 4 1/2 months...how embarrassing)
was not feeling well and was therefore not able to meet with us. Her
baby is due any day now. Our second appointment left us high and dry
and then our last appointment was also feeling under the weather. It
was definitely a "character building day" We did, however, contact a
referral in the evening named Jean. Her mother was a member of the
church, her husband passed away about 6 months ago, and her grandson
was also a member of the church. She had attended the funeral of a
member just a few days previous and had some questions for us like,
"Do you actually use the Bible then?" and "Does everyone go to Heaven
after they die?" It was amazing. We were able to talk a little bit
about the Plan of Salvation with her and she really liked it. She said
she wanted to learn more and then we told her a little bit about
Joseph Smith. She also works with a couple of members. Our day ended
well. :]

Thursday we had an interesting lesson. We went to meet with one of our
newer investigators, Shannon. We met her by mistake last week. When we
went to her house, there was no where to sit (most people here have
VERY small living quarters) So, we stood and talked to her about the
Book of Mormon and how it could bless her life and her son's life. It
turned out being a good lesson and she agreed to meet with us again.
Our exchange was a little confused with everything, but overall it
went well.

Friday was drive to Raleigh and go to the temple day! We did our
weekly library service before leaving. Tasha went to church! She liked
it a lot. We also got to meet her husband (finally). He is really
nice. He said Tasha talks about us a lot. So, I guess that's good! I
keep praying they will open Kinston up to sisters. He wasn't too fond
of the Elders. We met with Claire before we headed off to Raleigh as
well. She is working hard on her family still. We read Alma 33 which
is like a hidden treasure since it is squashed between the popular
Alma 32 and 34. It is a very good chapter. We were able to talk about
apostasy and prayer and the tree of life. She really liked vs 23 and
said that she definitely wanted to read that chapter with her
boyfriend. She has also been forwarding the scripture of the day that
we send out to her sister, Arraceli. Sister Heath came on exchanges
with us. She is going to be such a good missionary. Clara has a rabbit
that lives her house. Sister Heath did not know that and the rabbit
just about gave her a heart attack when it decided to jump on her. It
was really funny. After our appointment, we drove to Raleigh. It was
nice to see civilization again. There were actually people! And
businesses! We met with the Cotterells and Sister Joseph and Sister
Whitney at the mission home, had dinner and then headed off to the
temple. I love the temple. It was a great session and it was so neat
to see Bro. Williams (the man who was going through for the first
time) go through. He LOVED it. He was so happy. He is going to be
getting sealed to his wife in March. She passed away a few years ago
and he is so excited to get sealed to her. It was nice seeing Sister
Joseph again too.

Saturday morning we woke up and were all beat. We had breakfast,
prayed and headed back to our areas. I saw another church sign that
was good. It said, "Your worst day with God is better that your best
day without Him." Profound, right? I thought so. We went to a baptism
in Albertson. None of our investigators were there and we weren't
quite sure what our purpose was in staying, but right before the
program started, Bro. Potter came up to us and asked if we would be
willing to give a talk on the Holy Ghost because the brother who was
supposed to give the talk wasn't there and they couldn't get ahold of
him. We agreed. It turned out really good. The family whose daughter
was getting baptized has been less active for a long time and I guess
the Elders found them whilst tracting. It was a really good baptism.
Afterwards, we drove to Beulaville and had a lesson with Nathan about
faith. He is still trying to make a solid decision about baptism. His
parents (mom mostly) doesn't like the idea of him joining the church
and told him that he wasn't allowed to go to institute with his
girlfriend, Kaela anymore. He said he didn't agree and that he liked
what he had learned thus far and felt good about it all and that he
was willing to "fight for this." He wants to go to church. The trick
is getting him to actually go. He said he is going to invite his mom
and dad to come with him though!

Sunday we had a great lesson with Amy about doubts. We found out her
concerns (from Sarah mostly) and we now have an idea of how to help
her progress. She has come to church (all 3 hours) for a whole month
almost! We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with her and read some
from Mormon 9 about not doubting. She agreed to read and pray
sincerely and she is letting us come back. Afterwards we had a lesson
at the Smith's home with Greg. He has been out of town for two weeks
or so. We asked him how his reading was going. He said he had been
reading still, but that the audio CD with the Book of Mormon on it was
just about putting him to sleep. We talked about prayer with him. We
realized that he needs to have faith in Jesus Christ and the first
step to developing that faith is through prayer (see Alma 34: 17-27)
He asked his wife when we could come back over. Hooray for miracles!

It was a good week with lots of good things going on. I am thankful
for temples and for the work that is done there. I am thankful for the
spirit that is there and I know that it is the Lord's house.

Have a wonderful week! I love you all. Thank you for all you do.

Much love,

Sister J

Week of Miracles! February 13, 2012

Hello!

I hope y'all aren't freezing in the western USofA. It is FREEZING here. Really. (The feet warmers have been life savers)
This week was such a good week. We saw so many miracles this week. It's kind of funny too because I'm pretty sure we see miracles every week, but sometimes we forget to look for them as much. Oh, and the scripture of the week was a good one...it was: Romans 8:28.

So last Monday, we stayed home for the most part. I was pretty tired. A former investigator, Denise called us to tell us she wants us to come by. That never happens. We usually have to call them. So, that was miracle #1. Huzzah!

Tuesday morning we had made plans to go out with Eva (member in the Albertson ward). She is from Denmark and served a mission in England. She called us that morning to tell us that she had been calling all of her neighbors and all of her Mary-Kay clients to see if we could come by and share a christian message with them (miracle #2). Her efforts paid off. We were able to meet with a lady named Shirley. She is Presbyterian. Sister Welch and I actually taught one of her good friends, Doreen who is also a member of the same church. We were able to watch a Mormon message with her by Elder Holland about never giving up and then we read a couple of scriptures from Alma 7 about the Savior and how he knows each of us individually. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it! (miracle #3) We met with Denise the former investigator right after and had a really good lesson with her. She has had so much opposition in life. It blows my mind how hard the adversary works on people. Every time she meets with missionaries, bizarre and unexpected things happen. The last time she met with the sisters, her family was involved in three car accidents in one week. We were supposed to meet with her on Friday, but due to much opposition happening at home, she wasn't able to meet with us again. I would like to elbow Satan in the throat sometimes. However, she called us to tell us that she still wants us to come by this week. (Hooray!) <--miracle #4

Wednesday was district meeting once again. We had a really good district meeting about relying on the spirit to tell us where to go, what to do, and what to say. We read 3 Nephi 27:13 about doing the will of the Father and then we read 1 Nephi 4: 1-18 about Nephi and how he didn' t really know before hand why he doing what he was doing, but went forward with faith and did what he felt impressed to do. We also talked about overcoming doubts. Elder Crowley had a profound thought. He said that we should take things one at a time and "master the moment." I liked that. We can't expect to be able to overcome and accomplish everything all at once. We have to learn to master one thing at a time. It was a good district meeting. We witnessed yet another miracle that evening. Sister Heath (who is getting ready to go on a mission to Texas) went on exchanges with us. We decided to go by a former couple that Sister Christensen/Taylor told us to go by. It was really dark and we couldn't see the house numbers so we guessed which house it was and knocked on the door. No one answered, but a man came outside across the street. We decided to go over and talk to him. We asked him if he knew a Theresa and Milton. He told us that no one was home across the street, but that we could come in. He introduced us to his wife, Theresa. We found them! They are really good friends with a couple down the street who are members. Theresa likes to watch the BYU channel and they took a trip to Utah and have a GIANT photo book full of their many adventures through Utah. Milton is in a band. He was so excited to let us listen to some excerpts from the demo CD his band just made. Milton is very talented. He plays the keyboard for his band. We had a good lesson with them both and set up a return appointment! (miracle #5)

Thursday we weekly planned. We had an exchange to go out with us..who we forgot to call the night before. I didn't recognize the name at first (everyone has nicknames out here), but when I called, I realized that it was a less active/recent convert who has just started coming back to church. We met with her a couple of times and I guess she decided she wanted to come out with us and teach! (miracle #6) Unfortunately, she was called into work last minute, but it was still a miracle that she has that desire to come out with us. She has come to church 2 Sundays in a row now too. We met with another less active family that evening. They gave a referral! Hooray for referrals! (miracle #7) Referrals are always miracles.

Due to an unexpected trip to the emergency room and 3 sick people in her home, Denise wasn't able to meet with us on Friday. We were able to finally meet with Claire again. She was able to get her passport at last! She was so excited to tell us and was so thankful. I guess she had to wait in line for 8 hours or something. She is 8 1/2 months pregnant and couldn't sit down while she was waiting, but she made it through! (miracle #8) We read a talk from general conference with her, "Choose Eternal Life" and then we told her all the blessings in store for her as she keeps working towards her goal of getting a marriage license and then getting baptized. That evening we were supposed to have a lesson with Olivia and Miguel (part member family). Olivia's parents both ended up in the hospital in critical condition from CO2 poisoning. Soo, that kind of put a damper on our plans. We were unaware of this whilst we were attempting to find out where in the world they were for their lesson and thought that maybe they were in the trailer right behind the one they lived in because they own both of them. We went and knocked on the door. They weren't there, but a very nice girl named Shannon was there. (I guess Olivia and Miguel are renting that trailer now...) It started raining pretty bad (it really is a blessing when the weather is not pleasant...people let us come in!) so she let us come in. She basically has no religious background. She went to church with her mom, but she wasn't sure which denomination it was. We talked about how God loves her and that she is daughter of God. It was a really good lesson. She wants us to come back! (miracle #9)

Saturday we spent some time contacting referrals. We went to the library and talked to less active Tasha. She is going to be coming to church in Kinston this Sunday! Hooray! (miracle #10) That evening we went to see Nathan. Last time we met with Nathan, we invited him to be baptized. He told us that he would need to think and pray about it before he could give us a "for sure" answer. We asked him how that went and he had a really neat miracle. He said that he had prayed and thought about it a lot and that he had a couple of dreams this past week about how he saw himself being baptized and the members welcoming him into the ward ( Whoa. Right?) He said he still wants to make sure this is the right decision, but that he usually receives answers to his questions via dreams. (miracle #11)

Sunday we went to church in Woodington. We taught the gospel principles class this week. It was on the sacrament and why it is important. Good scritpures to read: Matthew 26:26-28; 3 Nephi 18:1-11. Amy came to gospel principles! (miracle #12) I think it was because we bribed her with candy. Or maybe she just loves us. Regardless, we were excited that she came. After church we had a super good lesson with her. We talked about recognizing the spirit and then we watched Elder Holland's talk, "Safety for the Soul". Oh my gracious. That talk is intense. It was really good. We asked her how she felt about the Book of Mormon and the talk. She said she believes it all (miracle #13). She said that what she has read so far in the Book of Mormon she believes. That is huge. Last time we asked her she said she wasn't so sure. So, that is exciting news! She gave us a bunch of girl scout cookies. I love girl scout cookies. Mmmmm... It was a splendid Sunday. VERY cold, but all together, it was a very good day.

I read some good talks this week. The first one was called "Finding Joy in the Journey" by Pres. Monson and the other one was called "Come What May, and Love It" by Elder Wirthlin. It was awesome. My favorite quote from Elder Wirthlin's talk was some advice he gave to his daughter. He said, "The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him." I know that's true. Thank heavens for continuing revelation. It is such a blessing.

I love you all so very much and I hope y'all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all your love and support. It has been a blessing in my life. I appreciate it very much.

Oh! Sister Matthews and I get to go to the temple this Friday! Yay! One of the recent converts she taught is going through for the first time. We are stoked.

Love you!

Love, Sister J

A New Vision (Feb 6, 2012)

Dearest Family and Friends,

Greetings from Deep Run, NC! Not much is new in these neck of the woods. The weather was nice this week aaand it was a good week. Sister M is doing great. She is great so you know, they just go hand in hand I suppose.

Last Monday we took a trip to Kinston. We drove our very muddy vehicle to the carwash and washed it twice. It still has some mud on it after the second run through. (sigh). I attached a picture of the muddy vehicle for you. We made our weekly run to Wal-mart and then went to JC Penny. I like that store. We (sis M and I) have been choosing a "scripture of the week" every week. This week's was Isaiah 41:10. I would suggest reading and then memorizing, but I'll let you use your agency. :]

We had great plans for Tuesday. Unfortunately, Satan also does daily planning and all of our appointments fell through. However, we were able to contact a referral and we set up some appointments with recent converts and former investigators. We had a huge blessing this week. One of the sisters that served in this area, Sister Christensen (now Sister Taylor) came back to visit. We decided to ask her for referrals and she gave us a LOT of referrals. She was there a whole week and it was wonderful! She had some pretty funny stories and she actually served in Deep Run twice so, she knew the area really, really well. Blessing? Oh yes.

Wednesday's district meeting was about having charity and faith in the area book. We read 2 Nephi 33 and likened it to the area book. We found a good scripture that may or may not have been a rebuking scripture in 3 Nephi 23:10-13. Afterwards, sister Matthews and I talked about how we wanted to turn this area around. We called it, "raise your vision." We set some goals for what we want this area to be like in six months and then set some more goals for what we are going to do to get it to that point. Basically what it came down to was asking referrals from everyone and getting the members more involved in missionary work than they already are. We are still working on some other ideas that are "out of the box" sorts of things. We took Sister Heath (that went to district meeting with us a few weeks ago) out on exchanges. She is getting ready to go on a mission to Houston, TX at the end of March. We met a man who was less active. He is in a Lynrd Skynrd tribute band. It was a VERY long doorstep appointment almost entirely about Lynrd Skynrd. I think he might be having a mid-life crisis...bless his heart.

Thursday we had the best weekly planning session ever! It was also the longest weekly planning session I have ever had in my life. 7 hours later we finished. (whew!) BUT, we really considered all of the needs and concerns of those we are teaching and I am confident it will pay off in the end. We also had an appointment with the Turner family. They are still having a rather difficult time with commitments and so forth. We talked about enduring to the end and what we need to do in order to qualify for the celestial kingdom. They made specific goals for where they are struggling and we finally figured out a way that they can read their scriptures! They are going to put their Book of Mormons on their dinner plates so when they get them out of the cupboard they will remember to read a scripture and then say a prayer before they eat. They came up with that idea all on their own too! I hope it will work for them.

On Friday we went and did service at the library. Tasha (the less active) was there. I love her. She has had a lot of trials in life and I think it is amazing how strong she is. She is starting to come back to church and asked about how she could move her records and what time church started and so forth. It was really good. We shelved books (who knew that you could re-learn how to do the Dewey decimal system on your mission?) and then made some valiant attempts to contact some referrals. Afterwards, we had dinner with the strouds (ward mission leader) in Woodington. Our appointment with Olivia and Miguel fell through so we went to Claire's. Guess what? She has an appointment to go to Raleigh on Tuesday (tomorrow) and get her paperwork started for a passport so she will have a picture ID to get married with! We are really happy for her. She is super excited too. Guess what else? When we went over there, her boyfriend was in the back room on the telephone. (He usually hides in the back room because he is "shy" and won't come out) Claire told us to be really quiet so he wouldn't know that we were there. We were and then he came out! He introduced himself to us and then he sat down. We talked for a bit and Itzel (Claire's four year old) said the prayer. It was so good. We invited him to come to church on Sunday and he said he would consider it.

Saturday we went to Claire's baby shower. They made these funny little pins that are supposed to be diapers, but they were far too lacy to look like diapers. Anyways, we had some really good legit Mexican food. I was stuffed. We were able to talk to some people there about the church. Claire's sister, Araceli was there. She had taken a few lessons in the past and we are hoping to meet with her soon. We had a lesson with Denise H., a recent convert. She is great! She loves the gospel principles manual and loves the church. We had a good lesson with her about enduring to the end. I found this really great quote in the Ensign from Pres. Monson. It says, "Decisions determine destiny. You can't make an eternal decision without eternal consequences." So basically, everything we do matters if we are planning on enduring to the end faithfully. We pulled most of what we talked to her about from the talk, "Choose Eternal Life" from the last conference. Good stuff! We had an appointment with Nathan at the Cottons (members) in Beullaville that evening. We decided we wouldn't brave the muddy road this time and parked at a Bojangles' and then had them come pick us up. The lesson we had with Nathan was sooo good! We talked about recognizing the spirit and then watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Resto. He was basically speechless at the end. We had him write down thoughts, impressions, questions during the movie and talked about them after. He said he doesn't know how it couldn't be true. The spirit was so strong. We invited him to consider being baptized. He said he would need to do some serious reading and praying, but that he would consider it. Great lesson. Great kid. The gospel is great.

Sunday we went to Albertson (all-ber-sun). Testimony meeting was really good and then I got a little distracted in sunday school and found some good scriptures about the "refiner's fire" (Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2-3; 1 Nephi 20:10. It was neat. The great refiner is Jesus Christ according to the Bible dictionary. I love the bible dictionary. I think I would like to read the whole thing at some point in my life. Anyways, no one came to church :( Our appointment for the evening caved , but it was okay. We've got a great week lined up and we're going to work our tails off!

I love you all. The church is true. I know that. I hope yall have a wonderful week and I am so grateful for all of your love and support.

With all my love,
Sister J

New Pictures: Feb 1, 2012