Sneak Preview

 I know I've neglected writing on here much, BUT there is consolation in knowing that I will resume writing a bit more after the semester of death is over.

A whole bunch of wonderful goodness has happened since the last time I posted on here so hold onto your boot straps (or other if you aren't the boot wearing type) and get excited (I hope you are getting excited right about now)!! I'll be posting in the near future!


Here's a sneak preview:

Swept Off My Feet

Hello! I have missed writing on here. Really I've just missed the way things used to be once upon a time. It's hard to accept change sometimes (sigh).
I have been enjoying the quote that says, "The only constant in life is change."
That is a true blue statement!

The weather has most certainly been changing. Utah experienced an ICE STORM a few days ago. Everything is a sheet of ice and it definitely swept me off my feet a few times, haha! (and continues to do so...as everything is still a sheet of ice). Weber State's Science Building staircase is quite a fright to go down when it's a sheet of ice.
I'm not sure I was made to endure this kind of weather. The cold has sunk into my bones. Brrrrrr! The dry weather makes my hands look like sun-dried tomatoes too. If you've ever seen a sun-dried tomato, you know they aren't a pretty sight. Let's just say I am anxiously awaiting spring time. :)

Ashlyn has made it a goal to scare me as many times as she can in a day. Everyday. I think my nerves have had about all they can take. She hides in my closet, behind doors, and on the staircase and jumps up and says, "BOO!" The usual response is, "AHH!" She does a good job sweeping her seeester off her feet. :) I love that kid.

Speaking of things that have swept me off my feet, there is a wonderful, handsome young man who has managed to sweep me clean off my feet. I absolutely adore him and consider myself the luckiest girl around to be with him. We've gone on many an adventure including (but not limited to) snow shoveling service, sledding, ice skating, Harmon's, and we are in the process of becoming songwriters. :) I believe Heavenly Father definitely has had a hand in our lives as we "coincidentally" ended up in the same institute class at Weber State...which starts at 7:30 in the morning (I know it's not early morning seminary, but still. It's tough for us spoiled Utahns!) AAAND we both work at the same place. J&J Nursery. The horticulturists. That's us. We plant, sing, and talk to the flowers.
Yep. I am convinced the Lord is in the details of our lives. (See Pres. Monson's talk: "Consider the Blessings" OCT 2012 Conference)

Changing is hard, but I know it's how we grow spiritually. I know the Lord allows us to experience everything we go through so we can draw closer to Him ultimately. We have to learn to let go of the things we want and things we desire and do what He knows is best for us. Everything starts with humility and becoming like a child who will "submit to His father in all things." I love the hymn, "Nearer Dear Savior to Thee" Here are the lyrics for you to ponder:

Nearer, dear Savior, to thee,
Nearer, nearer to thee—
Ever I’m striving to be
Nearer, yet nearer to thee!
Trusting, in thee I confide;
Hoping, in thee I abide.

[Chorus]
Take, oh, take, and cherish me,
Nearer, dear Savior, to thee.

Nearer, dear Savior, to thee,
Nearer, nearer to thee—
Proved by my trials, I’ll be
Nearer, yet nearer to thee!
Humbly I come to thee now;
Earnest, I prayerfully bow.

[Chorus]

Nearer, dear Savior, to thee,
Nearer, nearer to thee—
Ever my anthem will be
Nearer, yet nearer to thee!
Loving thee, ever I pray,
Aid me thy will to obey.

[Chorus]

Nearer, dear Savior, to thee,
Nearer, nearer to thee—
Let me by holiness be
Nearer, yet nearer to thee!
When all my trials are done,
When my reward I have won

[Chorus]

I love y'all!

Post Mission Life (Derailed!)

Hello from the snowy, icy, frigid land of UTAH!
I can hardly believe I am home. It seems like a dream. I feel like a participant in the movie, "Inception." The mission felt like a dream, and being home feels like a dream. I hope that feeling goes away soon. I feel like a train that has been derailed. It's hard to remember things that happened before the mission sometimes. I feel disoriented and lost a lot of the time; not sure what I should do with myself, etc.
One of my dear mission companions, Sister Sabrina Welch wrote me a letter while I was still out and related the transitions a missionary goes through to the Plan of Salvation. We have a wonderful life with our families before we leave (like the pre-earth life), we are "born" in the mission field (earth life), we serve, things are hard, we face incredible amounts of opposition and stress (agency and opposition in all things), we find the greatest joy we know (learning about Jesus Christ and the power of the Atonement), we "die" in the mission field (mortal death), we fly home on the airplane (kind of like the spirit world), and then we return home to our families (celestial kingdom!).
Being home has been a big transition; but not as earth-shattering as everyone seemed to make it out to be. It was difficult to come home to completely unfamiliar surroundings. It is still hard for me to wrap my head around the hard facts of life. But, I just try to take things one day at a time and that seems to be helpful. :)
Things I miss about being a missionary:
My companion-She had the same goals I did. It was nice to have someone with the same objectives in mind.
Structure
Having something productive to do with my life every hour of the day
Companion study
Teaching
Bearing testimony frequently throughout the day
Going to bed at 10:30
Being safe...practically untouchable from the dating world!
North Carolina-the people, the weather, the everything
Going to church as a missionary
Gospel Principles
Having a purpose that I understand and know how to accomplish.
Having a magic blue card that I could buy food and other essential things with
Being concerned only for the welfare of others. Now I have to worry about myself...

There is a whole plethora of other things I could probably ramble off, but that might take a while (for you to read and me to type) and since we all have time constraints, I will refrain.

I gave my Homecoming address this past Sunday. I was scared out of my skirt! I think it went alright though. It felt so good to be able to bear my testimony, to teach some basic principles of the gospel and tell other people about some of the people I was able to meet and to teach. I felt so good after sacrament meeting was over. Brother Mark Fitch, who just returned home from France spoke with me. It was really neat because we both addressed the same topic, The Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism by Immersion, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End).
Coincidence? I think not!

Re-submersion into everyday life has been greeted with resistance. I still don't like listening to the radio (except 89.1, my beloved classical music station). Lance tried to introduce me to some new music. It resulted in tears. I think you see the world through a different lens than the rest of the world as a missionary. One day at a time...

My biggest fear right now is doing something to offend the spirit. I don't want to lose it. Making sure I take time to read from the Book of Mormon everyday and continuing the habits of praying and filling my day with worthwhile activities has been helpful. I have found that being selective about what is okay and what is not okay to see, listen to, participate in, etc has been a challenge. Especially in the entertainment department. Music was my lifeblood before I left. Now, I am finding a clash of standards. The iTunes library has shrunk significantly in some genres.

I want to go and serve someone.

I have talked a lot about how much I miss being a missionary, but it would also be important to note that I absolutely LOVE being home with my family. It is so nice to hold them in my arms again and talk with them and my favorite is snuggling with Ashlyn when she's getting ready for bed. It has been wonderful to be back home with them. Words can't describe the joy I felt when I saw them as I came down the escalator. It was the best thing EVER.

My love and appreciation for the experiences I have had during the past 18 months have definitely deepened since I've been home. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. I loved being a missionary. It was the best thing I have ever done with my life. I don't regret the decision to serve.

The church is definitely true. If you don't know it yet, you can. Read the Book of Mormon and you will understand God's plan. You will see He has a grand purpose and plan for you. Bigger than you can comprehend. He can see the end from the beginning. You will learn to trust Him more, know Him better and feel His love work through you as you help other people. That's what I do know.

I hope to be a somewhat frequent blogger even though life is about to go insane with school and possibly (hopefully) a job of some sort. Not to mention I have committed myself to President Beard to re-enter the dating world (ugh).

Stay in tune!

Happy New Year (23 hours and 22 minutes late)

Love you all!

My last report as a Missionary.....

Hello dearest family and friends!

I guess this is the last time I will be reporting home as a missionary. That is mind-blowing! It has been a hard fact to accept. Being a missionary has brought more peace and joy into my life than I thought I could ever have; especially given the circumstances of everything that has happened over the past year and a half. I am grateful for the time I have had to serve as a missionary. It has been a "trial of my faith" most definitely and I feel that I have come out on the winning side. :) I have "fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" as Paul would say. (see 2 Timothy 4:7) Paul is my hero of the New Testament.

A lot of good things happened this week.

We had dinner with the Randall’s, a recent convert family on Monday. They are such a great couple. I love them. We had a good lesson with them about being steadfast and immovable.

On Tuesday we had the best lesson EVER with Jeri. We taught her the restoration and prayed that we could teach it to her in a way that would be meaningful and applicable to her life. It was seriously one of the best lessons ever. She is such a great lady and works hard to overcome her fears and doubts. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! (yay!) We stopped by several less actives and part member families afterwards. Unfortunately, no one answered the door.

Wednesday was the last zone meeting. It was really good. We were able to do some role plays and I feel like I finally have figured out how to do a good street contact! (better late than never I suppose :] ) We did a role play with the Assistants whose first response to our being assigned to role play together was, "get ready to learn from the best!" No pressure...it went well. (whew!) I love teaching and being able to recognize the spirit. Something we have started to do after role plays is asking the question, "Are there any thoughts that you didn't vocalize?" Those thoughts are usually things the spirit is prompting you to act upon, but we as human beings tend to ignore them sometimes.

We visited with Leah afterwards. She is a tough cookie. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She had all sorts of crazy questions from her JW background. We told her to read the Book of Mormon. That will answer any question.

We went to the Petty’s afterwards and carolled to their neighbors, Ola Mae and Charles. They are an older couple. Ola Mae can play the piano like nobody's business. She played us some hymns with some baptist-esque overtones. It was fun. We were hoping to set up an appointment with her, but she pulled the "I'll call you" card. Hopefully she'll let the future sisters come back and teach.

We then went carolling to all of our investigators in R2 ward with the ward choir. We stopped by Bro. Ngo who was quick to invite us into his home and we sang him several hymns. The spirit was definitely there and he enjoyed it very much. He sang along with a few of the hymns and it was great! We tried singing to the Wakefields, but they weren't home so we carolled to their neighbors and gave them a Joy to the World DVD. They were a nice young couple. Our last stop was Sister Bogue. We were able to sing to her and she was so grateful we thought of her and stopped by. She was almost in tears.

Thursday was a day of "last time I will ever do this as a missionary" moments. I weekly planned for the last time (hallelujah!) on Thursday. We went to Sister Donaldson's afterwards and showed her the Mormon messages on mormon.org. She has been struggling a little, but the Mormon messages brightened her day! She told us she would be spending a lot more time there now that she knew about it. I went to the last coordination meeting ever as a missionary on Thursday. It must have been "National-be-late-to-coordination-meeting Day" because everyone came around 820 pm. It starts at 8. Despite our late start we were able to accomplish a lot.

We went to the farmer's market with Sister Bogue on Friday. She has CHF so we were able to go and help her go shopping for groceries since she can't do it herself. She likes fresh veggies and fruits a lot. She lined us up with a lot of fresh lettuce, spinach, and kale. I discovered that I really love kale. All of our appointments for the remainder of the day fell through. However, we were able to FINALLY contact a part member family, the Dixon’s. They were running around like crazy trying to get dinner in the crock pot because their niece just had a baby and they were on the way out the door. We helped slice onions and a miracle happened! I didn't cry! Anyway, it was a good ice breaker and they invited us to come back next week.

Saturday we went to lunch with Sister Patrick at this super ritzy Italian restaurant with mediocre food. At least the company was exceptional. :)
We also met with Sister Falco. She is in the Pearl of Great Price now! We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and she has just kept going. It's been great to see her progress.

Sunday was crazy. We went to church, Daisy and Jeri both came! It was a great way to end the week. We had a lesson with the Wakefields who were planning on coming to church, but Bro. Wakefield hasn't been able to kick a cold that is working on him. We then went to Bro. Ngo's and reviewed the restoration with him. He has been reading which is great. He is such a cute little old man. We then taught a mission prep class at the Clay's with a RM, Sister Despain who served in Ogden, UT. She is probably the most energetic missionary I have ever met in my life. It was great!

Well, I know this is the Lord's work and there is nothing more important that sharing the gospel with all of God's children. I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart and I know that Book changes lives. I know it is a gift to us from God. I know it is given to bring us closer to Christ.

See you soon (ahh!)

Love,

Sister Johnson

It has been a great week!!!

Dear Family,

MONDAY
I finally got a haircut! Sister Asay wouldn't let me get a haircut for the LONGEST time. It is nice to have hair that is symmetrical again. :) We had a great experience at Great Clips. The lady that cut my hair was Muslim. She had a lot of misconceptions about the church which I was happy to dispel. Sister Asay's stylist was very interested in what we do as missionaries. She also told Sister Asay that the manager of Great Clips, Angel was having a really bad day because her best friend had gone into a coma after a pretty serious surgery. We were able to talk to Angel and prayed with her. The spirit was definitely there.
We met with Daisy. She is doing wonderfully. We had a great lesson on hope and the spirit was so strong. We also did a mini testimony meeting and she bore her testimony. Hearing her testimony was such a wonderful experience. She has a solid testimony. The Lopez family from the Raleigh 3rd ward invited her and her mom over for dinner yesterday. The spanish elders were able to teach her mom a lesson and we talked to them afterwards and Daisy's mom agreed to have the elders come back so she can learn more! Hopefully Daisy's whole family will be able to benefit from the gospel now.

TUESDAY
We had Christmas Zone Conference! The four of us sisters (Sister Asay, myself, Sister Wilson, and Sister Prestwich) all have the same cardigan so naturally it only made sense for us to wear them and match. :) The Assistants asked me to play the piano for everyone that sang. Luckily a couple of the elders had polished their piano skills and were able to assist in playing as well. Sister Asay sang the First Noel as a solo and I played for a duet (What Child is This) by a couple of elders serving in Apex. We went through the arrangement once during lunch and thankfully it turned out pretty well. I really believe that performing musical numbers in church are a way to gain a solid testimony that the Lord hears and answers prayers.
The Bernhisels are so funny. They came up with a version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" and had us all doing choreography in the gym during lunch. I never thought I would do something like that as a missionary. :)
We went to the office afterwards to drop off a couple of things and saw that Sister Asay's bike had arrived! (Did I mention Sisters are going to start riding bikes after this transfer?)
The Assistants were there and convinced us that they could have her bike ready to go within 10 minutes.

1 hour later we finally left the office. lol. We now have a bike rack on the back of our car and I feel like an Elder.

We had dinner with recent covert family, the Gibsons that night. They are absolutely incredible people. They told us their conversion story and it was incredible. It's amazing what the gospel can do for a person.

WEDNESDAY
 As a result of our service to Jeri last week, she invited us to come back to answer some questions she had. She asked us about the role that women play in the church and how we can know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and not a false prophet. She had great questions. We were excited to teach her and she was very receptive.
I was supposed to go to the eye doctor to figure out why my eyes are so sensitive to fluorescent lights, but alas, they did not accept our insurance. Apparently the lady I talked to on the phone didn't know what she was talking about, bless her heart. We went on exchanges with Hermana Lopez, a recently returned missionary in the 3rd ward. She gave us a couple of referrals which we were able to forward to their respective areas.

THURSDAY
Happy Birthday to Sister Asay! The Clays came up with this creative idea of hanging paper snowflakes outside our door so Sister Asay could have snow for her birthday (It has snowed every year on her birthday). We tried to make buttermilk pancakes, but they didn't work out quite as we hoped.

FRIDAY
Sister Falco, the returning less active is doing fantastic. She told us that she was able to do tithing settlement and we talked to her about preparing to go back to the temple. That is her next goal and she is working hard to prepare. She is a diligent scripture reader. I admire her diligence.

Sister Asay and I have invited ward members to go caroling with us this week to investigators and less actives. Our ward mission leader in the 2nd ward told the ward council about our plans and everyone is really excited to participate. We are excited to spread some Christmas joy by bringing "glad tidings" of Jesus Christ to as many people as we can this week.

SATURDAY
Great day! We went to a baptism for the elders.

SUNDAY
I have been struggling to know for myself that the work I have tried to do here (especially in Raleigh) is acceptable to the Lord. I have prayed a lot and I finally feel like I received an answer as I was reading about being steadfast and immovable today in my studies. 1 Corinthians 15:58 answered my question and I feel that the Lord is happy with our efforts here. We are going to make sure we work our tails off this week (just like every week :] ).

love yall!

Sister J

December...? WHAT!????

Hi!

Where does time go??! It's already December!

Well, enough panicking. No one ever got anything accomplished by panicking about it. :)

I've been trying to learn to trust in the lord more this week. I was inspired by a young lady from the Raleigh 1st ward who told us she has been trying to follow impressions by writing them down or acting on them. Sister Asay and I had a really neat experience with that this week.

We were able to have a great miracle this past week because we acted on an impression. We had made plans to go by a former investigator one morning. We were able to contact her, but she wasn't interested. As we were walking back to the car I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help us figure out why we were in this neighborhood. We were walking down the street and saw a man back his car into his driveway. I felt impressed to go talk to him, but didn't want to because it is easy to rationalize why it wouldn't be good to contact him in his car. We were getting closer and I had decided not to talk to him, but then remembered my goal to act on impressions so we quickly turned into his driveway and contacted him as he was getting out of his car. Ton Ngo (pronounced, "no") was his name. He is from Vietnam. We talked to him a little bit about Jesus Christ and asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. He said that he thinks he has a belief in Jesus Christ. We asked if we could come and teach him about Jesus Christ and how Christ could bless his life and he agreed. We were able to meet with him yesterday and had a good lesson with him. He had a lot of questions and has a desire to believe in Christ. His wife passed away four years ago and we were able to testify some about the plan of salvation. He has a hard time reading small print and in English, but we are going to make sure he can start reading from the Book of Mormon as soon as possible. He is a wonderful man and I know that our paths crossed for a reason.

We had an Alma and Amulek experience this week too. We contacted a potential investigator named Jeri after an appointment we had with our investigator, Leah. Jeri was moving and seemed a bit frazzled and wasn't open to the idea of having us come over and start teaching. We had a member from the Raleigh 1st ward with us (miracles always happen when you are with members). We decided to be like Alma and Amulek and offer service since she wasn't interested in meeting with us. So we offered to come back and help her move since she had no one except her daughter's family coming to help her move. We came back a few days later with the Jacobsens (member family in R1 ward) and the R1 elders and we were able to help Jeri move. We were also able to help her catch her run away dog! She told us it was helpless. We said no way. We started running and probably ran about 1/2 a mile before we were able to sneak up on the dog and catch him. I basically tackled him. It was gross as he was a very sweaty dog. She was happy to have her four-legged friend back. As we were helping her move, we noticed another man that was there helping her move. We recognized him as a member of the Raleigh 2nd ward. He is a less active that has been working his way back for quite some time. We were very surprised to see him there and asked how he knew Jeri. He told us that he had met her a few weeks previously online and that they had started dating. He told us that when he saw she had a Book of Mormon he knew she was a "keeper". It is a testimony to me that the Lord really is in every detail of our lives. Jeri was surprised that we knew Bro. Shearer as well. After we helped Jeri she told us we were welcome to come back anytime and that she wanted to start learning more about the church. We were so excited that we couldn't keep from smiling! We are going back this week to do some more service and have a lesson afterwards.

We taught YW on Sunday. It was one of the most emotional meetings I've been in. I never cry and I was crying for most of the meeting. We were able to teach the YW about the joy missionary work brings and it brought far too many tears to my eyes. It was a wonderful meeting though. Everyone else was crying too.

Well, I have to go, but I hope you all have the most wonderful week ever! Love you.

Love, Sister J

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Dear family, friends, and favorite people,

Happy Thanksgiving!
Turkey day here was great. It was crazy, but it was great all at the same time.. The Clays had like 10 of their grand-kids over. We locked ourselves in our tiny little room upstairs so we could do our weekly planning...and guess what?! We actually finished it all in one day! We took a break for lunch and played tag with some of the grandkids in the backyard. That made their day. Afterwards we went to the Waldorf/Gandolph family's home for dinner and had a delicious thanksgiving dinner. I love little kids. The Waldorf's daughter, Kaylee is the cutest little girl (besides Ashlyn). Sister Asay and I spent about 2 hours after dinner serenading all their family with "The Sound of Music" and select hymns. It was so much fun. Kaylee and their son Tillman also came and sang with us.
There is a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for my family; they are the best ever. I am thankful for my health, for all of the wonderful companions I have been blessed with, for all the amazing people I have been able to teach, the Book of Mormon (because it is the most amazing book ever), prophets, etc. The list could go on forever. I realized as I was pondering about all the things we are blessed with that it really comes down to remembering to be thankful to our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We are forever indebted to him. The scriptures from Mosiah 2 have been going through my mind this whole week (see verses 20-25). I am forever grateful for Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the hope that the Atonement brings and that I have had the privilege of being raised in a home where that knowledge was taught and practiced.

Reshell has officially moved to Durham. :( She said she still wants to meet with missionaries there! I hope it works out okay. We had some great miracles this week.

Here are a couple:

Sister Asay felt impressed to go by an active member of the ward. I was somewhat hesitant, but agreed that we could call her and set up a time to visit her. We had a good lesson with her and by the end of the conversation she was telling us about a mother and son that she had invited to live with her until they can find a place to live. They are not members and they came to church last week. We talked to the sister (Sister Boyd) about asking them if they would like to talk with missionaries. She agreed to do that and we are going to see them this week! Sister Boyd also invited them to the Community Christmas Celebration (aka: Creche. Creche is a word from Greek(?) that means nativity)
Sister Asay and I have seen several "tender mercies" which I believe is in part due to our efforts in asking for referrals from everyone and trying to talk with everyone we see. As we were getting ready to leave church yesterday an older brother in the ward came up to us and told us about his son's family that he wants us to work with. They are less active and their daughter has started opening up some about learning more (she's not a member). We are hoping to set something up with them this week.
The Clay family we live with has really caught the missionary fire as well. Their daughter Joy was telling us about another girl in the ward who invited a couple of friends to meet with missionaries. One of them is getting baptized, but the other isn't....yet. She wants to invite her over and have us teach her to see if she would be more receptive to Sisters. It is exciting!

Well, my time is about ready to expire, but I know this is the Lord's work.

Have a wonderful week! Love y'all!

Love, Sister J