Hola y'all!
What a week man! We had so many miracles, bike rides and new people. I really am enjoying my time out here being a missionary in Arkansas :)
On Monday we had my first P-day (preparation day) in the mission! Let's just say that P-day is a BIG DAY in the mission. Sister Cottle was even excited on Sunday because it was P-day Eve jajaja.We basically just had the most efficient Walmart trip ever and then messaged people all day (but I spent most of the time figuring out emails on a phone jajaja). Everyone gets so excited about who they're gonna message and if it'll be a "good messaging day". It was fun to see everyone in the quad (4 Sister Missionaries in our apartment) talking to their families and get their last messages or "risky" messages sent out before 6pm when P-day ends and we go back into pros (proselyting) mood. :)
Tuesday was a day of miracles! Whoop whoop! First, Sister Earl (the cook) made us gluten-free German pancakes which were bomb! Our lesson with Clifton (recent convert) and Lea (Clifton's fiancee) also fell through, but just wait for the miracle ;) During our outside time, where we pretend to be exercising so that we can talk to people, we met Mr. David sitting out on a rocking chair on his porch (extremely Southern by the way) on his phone. We started talking to him and eventually he got so invested in our conversation that he put down his phone, we even tried to leave but then he brought out his kids and kept talking to us, showing interest and we even got his phone number and info. MIRACLE! And it gets better! On the way home we saw Lea and Clifton! MIRACLE! We were able to set up another time to meet with them! (It ended up falling through too but it was still a miracle)
On Wednesday I had my first language study time with 3 other newly out of the MTC reassigned missionaries and 2 missionaries that spoke really good Spanish. Let me just say that it was ROUGH. I really need to practice my Spanish more! After that began our biking journeys for the week. We were biking to a service project at Sister Kyle's to mow her lawn (we only have 2 bikes so Sister Earl let me use her's). It was 2.8 miles and at first I was like "wow this is nice, I like biking" and then we got to our first uphill...let's just say that I am not a fan of biking over hills in the humid weather. I was a sweaty mess! And of course that's when a car pulled over to tell me I'm cute (I couldn't really understand much of what they were saying through their Southern accent, that I'm still trying to figure out). When we finally got to Sister Kyle's guess what? Her lawn was ALREADY MOWED! So we just talked for a while and then biked back home as I thought I would die. But it's fine, we got home, took a couple minutes to cool down and Sister Earl made us s'mores dip (peanut butter, chocolate and marshmallows cooked for a bit in a pan) for dessert!
On Thursday we had district council (5 companionships in a district meet to discuss things like our goals) but we had to call in because we don't have the miles to drive 55 miles there. :( For lunch Sister Farris and Sister Cottle were super excited to make Spam Mubshis (kinda like sushi with rice on the bottom, fried spam on top, wrapped in seaweed). I was very hesitant at first but they were actually pretty good surprisingly. Then we embarked on biking journey #2! This journey was 3.7 miles and I know what you're thinking...that's not very far, but it felt FAR just to drop off a cute note for someone that was being taught by the missionaries jajaja. But on the bike ride over we met Mr. Richard who actually stopped us and wanted to talk. It sounded like the Elders used to teach him, but we couldn't quite tell if he was more interested in us or what we were saying...let's just say I didn't catch on to the one time we are supposed to lie as missionaries when Sister Farris said she had a boyfriend, but it still turned out ok because everyone deserves to hear of the gospel no matter what. Also I didn't realize how long we would be biking for and totally forgot to put on sunscreen both biking days and my arms turned into tomatoes. Luckily I just lathered them in Aloe Vera!
On Friday we got a referral!! This was actually a miracle because we started with a blank area book (book with all the info of people being taught, used to be taught, not interested and members) and have literally already contacted everyone on the list hence we are going through the old paper ones now. It was amazing! Speaking of the old paper area books, we were going through them and are already back in 2013 going through it, calling people when we called this one lady who actually answered the phone and told us how great her day was because the Lord had blessed her. Sister Farris and I were like "yes we finally got someone to answer AND they're interested!!!" Then we asked her if she would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ sometime...that's when she cussed us out and Sister Farris hung up the phone as fast as possible. It was a little scary and we just sat in silence for a while. But I guess that's just how missionary work goes sometimes, you get rejected a lot and then there's the rare person that is actually interested. Then we had a service project at Brother Bates again helping him with his yard and I got to use a power washer which was super fun. We even got to visit Mr. Richard again and give him a Bible since he already had a Book of Mormon. AND we found out he has a wife! (Sister Farris said wives are the best because he had definitely been drinking before we came over…) Then we had a nice end to our day with a storm! There were dark clouds, thunder, lightning and everything. IT WAS SO COOL!
On Saturday we had our biking journey #3 which was 4.4 miles. (Guys I know this sounds like nothing but that was a total of 21.8 miles in 3 days…) I was literally DRENCHED in a mix of sunscreen and sweat when we stopped for lunch, it was gross. But it was worth it because on the way we met Mr. Fred who hasn't been to any church and seemed interested and the referral, Ms. Jan, we went to visit was actually THE BEST. When we knocked she was like "are you the missionaries?" and just loved everything we talked to her about as we shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon and prayed with her. It was awesome and she's just so ready to hear our message. She even texted US right after to say how much she appreciated it! Then we finished the day with a service project for Brother Miskins.
On Sunday we walked to church in order to conserve miles and it was a bit farther than I thought it was so we were a little sweaty by the time we got there in our nice church clothes. The highlight of my day was during our companionship weekly planning session (where we plan and schedule out our week) when I felt like we should call Ms. Barabra since we hadn't in a while. When we called she said that it had been a rough week and she just completely opened up to us about everything, she even cried a little as she talked on the phone with us for 30 minutes. I just felt so much love for her and wanted to reach through the phone and give her a hug. I got very emotional and had an ugly cry moment so that was fun, but I just felt so much for this single mother struggling with feelings of loneliness like no one cared about her. It was intense but I just wanted to share with her how much God loves her, the plan He has for her involving Christ's sacrifice for HER to be able to understand all of her trials and problems and that we love her!
This week I have learned so much from my trainer Sister Farris and the other sisters in our quad. I'm still trying to push out of my comfort zone and talk to more people instead of letting Sister Farris do all the talking, but I'll get there eventually hopefully:) I just want to leave with my testimony that I know this gospel is one of true, everlasting joy. I know God loves y'all so much and I do too!!
Love,
Sister Johnson
Pictures!!
- Sister Farris killing another spider for me cuz she handles the bugs and I handle the dogs!
- Studying with my awesome companion on the couch!
- Us being good missionaries outside with our masks on ;)
- Biking journey #1
- Sister cottle and I watching the storm and praying for a tornado and more lighting jajaja
- Biking journey #2
- Biking journey #3 where we stopped for lunch and ate our free burger and shakes by a member's store...we looked pretty homeless...
- Pretty walk to church
- Fancy Sunday dinner outside!
- Close up of dinner by Sister Earl
