Let's Talk About Miracles!

Hola y'all! 

Alright folks! This week was literally full of so many miracles, it was crazy! Let me tell y'all about it! 

On Monday we had an amazing district pday!! We drove down to Ruston, LA and Elder Davis gave Sister Farris a haircut! He wants to be a barber, but I don't think he does anymore after cutting a girl's hair for the first time! Jajaja. We also played some volleyball, like we always do. Once we were back in El Dorado we just had a bunch of meetings until the end of the day. 

On Tuesday we went out biking, but the Elders in our district told us not to stand up on our bikes and to use our gears...which we hadn't been doing, hence our knees were hurting. We biked to Mr. David's and on the way there we met Ms. Carolyn and got her phone number. MIRACLE! Mr. David cancelled on us, but he said he's been reading the Book of Mormon almost every single day! MIRACLE! So we started biking to Ms. Alexis's, but forgot to check Ms. Carolyn's address so we biked back and 2 boys asked us where we were from… perfect segway! We told them we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! And we got one of their phone numbers too! MIRACLE! Sadly Ms. Alexis cancelled on us too, Mr. Cowboy's family wouldn't let us in, Mr. Fred wasn't home and a member we were gonna visit was gone too...we tried street contacting during all of this but we only met a man smoking who wouldn't respond to us...we tried just talking AT him for like 5 minutes and then left...another lady we tried saying "hi" to but she responded with a "no thank you"...awkward...then we were almost home and saw a lady outside spray painting and went to talk to her. Her name is Ms. Tressie and we got to read a verse with her and she asked to have a Book of Mormon and we were like "YES, HERE TAKE 3" jajaja we just gave her one ;) MIRACLE! The bikes bring blessings y'all! Later that night we had a storm and even moved our dinner table closer to the window to watch the rain POUR down and the lightning strike.  The thunder shook our whole house! It was cool! 

On Wednesday we drove down to Ruston, LA for district council! It was good, for district lunch we decided to go to Wendy's inside of Chick-fil-a to mix it up! Then we drove home and went to visit Mr. Tony and Ms. Venus. We gave her a Bible and Book of Mormon which she totally just accepted! MIRACLE! We read some with her and she absolutely loved it! It was the best! Then the Nashs (ward mission leaders) took us out for dinner at Laredo Grill which was cool and had good mexican food. They even dropped us off at the Redford's (member couple in the ward) to meet them. The Redfords were great and had 5 dogs!! I was so excited and one even sat on my lap the whole time! Then Sister Redford drove us home in her stick shift car...she said they bought it to learn a couple months ago and that she hadn't driven it in a month...it was an interesting ride home in the dark to say the least...jajaja

Thursday I had an interesting morning...I woke up at 2am and my back was itching so I scratched it, but then tried to look at it in the mirror but it was just all red from me scratching it so I went back to sleep. In the morning I was getting ready for exercise time when my back was still itchy so I looked at it in the mirror. There was a small black dot, I tried rubbing it off but it was pretty attached...my worst fear...a tick...I showed Sister Farris who showed Sister Earl (who lived on a farm and knew what to do) who confirmed that it was a very small tick. I totally freaked out inside, but miraculously stayed calm on the outside. Sister Earl got a metal thing and a lighter and heated it up to burn the tick off. So I laid on the floor and prepared myself...then it just...fell out...I repeat, the TICK JUST FELL OUT! MIRACLE! It just came out of me, head attached to the bug and everything. No needle required! Then we put alcohol on the spot it was at and some neosporin. I'm doing good now jajaja. Then we had a great plan of salvation lesson with Mr. Brian and he just loves the Book of Mormon! Then we biked to have a lesson with Ms. Grace, but she didn't answer...so we tried Ms. Elizabeth's house while we were in the area...no answer...Later we biked to Mr. Justin's...no answer...Then we biked to Sister Maria Ramirez for our dinner appointment! She was so excited to see us, she's just so cute! As she was finishing making us dinner, she gave us each a coke...now I know that caffeine is not against the word of wisdom, but it is my personal choice not to drink it and Sister Farris knows that. So she drank her coke as fast as possible, while Sister Ramirez wasn't looking and then SWITCHED ours so that mine was empty and Sister Farris's was now full. She is so awesome! So I just pretended to drink throughout dinner jajaja. But Sister Ramirez made us these great enchiladas and the best rice I've ever eaten before! She even had fried chicken! We were so stuffed...but in the South and at Maria’s you never get just one plate. So as soon as I was done with mine, I got another plate of 2 enchiladas and another heaping serving of rice! Then she asked Sister Farris, who was struggling with all that soda in her, if she wanted more chicken, so I stepped in and took seconds on chicken too! But as soon as Sister Farris was done with her first plate, Maria got up to get her MORE! She tried asking for just some rice, but Sister Ramirez gave her the saddest look as she said “no enchiladas?” Sister Farris was like “oh no! 1 enchilada” Then Sister Ramirez said “ok” with the biggest smile on her face! She even tried to feed us ice cream at the end! We shared a spiritual thought instead jajaja. 

On Friday we had another great morning lesson with Mr. Brian about the word of wisdom. He said he is currently living it, sometimes he drinks tea but was totally willing to give it up! He is seriously just the best! After lunch we headed out on the bikes to a lesson with Sister Russell (less active member) for the first time in person. We were biking up like the second uphill when I thought I was gonna die. I was riding a different bike and it was SO DIFFICULT! I felt like I could go 10 times faster walking! So we checked out my bike, we've fixed our bikes before, but we didn’t have our tools with us...so Sister Farris just undid the front brake all together! And the problem was fixed! Who needs front brakes anyway! jajaja. We made it to Sister Russell’s safe and sound! It even rained a little as we pulled up to her house! So we walked on in, covered in a mixture of sweat and rain dripping down ourselves...I know! Ewww right? It gets better! As we sat down on her couch I kept feeling something on the back of my neck, but I was pretty sure it was just rain or something. Like 2 minutes later I looked at my left shoulder and saw this BIG BLACK thing so I flicked it, it made a noise, landed on the ground and it was a COCKROACH! I was pretty freaked out...but only on the inside...it was gross...nevertheless, we had a good lesson about prophets! Near the end of the lesson I noticed some small white worm things on the ground moving...as we biked away from her house, Sister Farris told me they were maggots and we checked ourselves for any and all bugs! Then we kept biking to Mr. David. On the way there we were biking up this hill, just barely passing a house when a man came out yelling “WAIT!” We stopped and found out Mr. Terry had met with the missionaries before and we scheduled an appointment! MIRACLE! I mean...not very many people are trying to talk to US, usually we’re the ones finding and talking to them, so that was a fun change of events jajaja. We had a lesson with Mr. David, but I don’t really think he is keeping the commitments...so we recomitted him...again...Then we biked to Ms. Venus, but she wasn’t home…

On Saturday we went to Ms. Pat’s for our usual morning yard work service! Although now we aren’t even working on her own yard anymore, we are working on the city stuff next to her house. We were cleaning up the trash on the side of the road with her and found lots of interesting things...beer bottles, insulin needles and this tupperware full of drugs...some people won’t be very happy...oh well jajaja. Then we walked home and changed into pros (proselytizing) clothes...then I saw this black thing on my foot and tried to rub it off...it didn’t come off...and it was BIG...my experience with black dots on me was not so good this week, so I decided not to look to close at it and asked Sister Farris to. She was like “that’s definitely a tick!” AHHH. We went to get Sister Earl, but she was in the shower! So in order to distract me, Sister Burns asked me about my favorite movie which is Avengers. So I recited the enter opening scene, plot and closing scenes. Then Sister Earl came out and we got to work, she was like "oh yeah that's a crab tick!" Whatever that means! She got to work with the metal, the lighter and the toilet paper. Sister Farris held my foot down, Sister Earl got the tick and Sister Burns held my hand...it was an intense process man and it kinda stung, but the tick got out!! The head hadn't fully gone in yet and we got the whole thing out! MIRACLE! Although I don't wanna see another tick for like YEARS. We decided to go to Flying burger for lunch with the gift card Ms. Pat gave us and to distract me from all the tick drama. It was so good! I tried catfish for the first time, had some shrimp and hush puppies! Then we drove home, Ms. Alexis cancelled on us and then we found tick leg remains in my foot so we just tweezed it out. Then we had some more appointments cancel…

Sunday we had a baptism! Well the other Sisters in our quad have been working with Ms. Kristen and she got baptized on Sunday. We had a wonderful Sunday service with Mr. Brian and then went to Brother Bates' house for the pool baptism since #1 the church building's drains are broken, so the baptismal font doesn't work and #2 COVID so doing it outside meant more people could come. It was such a cute set up! I gave the baptismal talk (which I was super nervous giving my first talk away from home), she was baptized in the pool by Brother Utsch and I got to be a witness, we shared our testimonies, Sister Utsch gave a talk about the Holy Ghost, then she was confirmed a member of the Church and we all said "woohoo!" and raised the roof jajaja. Then we had some cake and talked to the nonmember couple there. The lady, Ms. Marta, was very talkative and she even wanted to say a prayer with us! It was a little different though...we stood in a circle, holding hands and everyone got the chance to say their own prayer. She took like 10 minutes just for her prayer and blessed the most interesting things! Including our "ovaries that carry our future children with us always"...very interesting. Then her husband said a prayer in the circle and Sister Earl closed us out in prayer. It was quite an interesting experience to say the least! 

So many things happened this week! Some crazy things, some hard things, but every single day I could find at least one miracle that happened to us. A miracle doesn't have to be some huge thing, it can be something as small as a tick falling out of you jajaja. I know that when we earnestly look for those miracles and God's hand in our lives, we will find it! 

Have a blessed week!

Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!

Love, 

Sister Johnson

July Bike Mileage: 130.6 miles

June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles

Pictures!!!

1.     The district playing our usual game of pday volleyball.

2.     The quad having dinner RIGHT NEXT to the window to watch the crazy storm outside. 

3.     District counsel with "Tank"

4.     Tick #1

5.     Outdoor baptism setup.

6.     Ms. Kris, super excited, right before her baptism. 

7.     Ms. Kris and Brother Utsch with their baptismal clothes on.

8.     Me giving my baptism talk 

9.     Sister Farris and I eating cake after the baptism :)

The SPIRIT

Hola y'all!!

This week was an interesting and exciting one! 

On Monday we had the first p-day of the new transfer!! Sister Farris made beignets with chocolate dipping sauce! They were so good, but apparently people here in the South put on like a POUND of powdered sugar because if you don't get the "don't suck in" (or you'll choke and die) warning it's not authentic jajaja. Later we had a lesson with Ms. Mary...but it didn't happen...so we tried our new Blue Bell flavor; Rocky Road, which was actually pretty good!

Tuesday morning we had an AMAZING lesson with Mr. Brian!! We were teaching the Restoration and brought Brother Shipman, a member in the ward, to the video call. It was so great and Mr. Brian said how he knows the Book of Mormon is true. As Brother Shipman was closing with his testimony, he started talking about his own baptism and I got these really strong spiritual feelings and wondered if I should invite Mr. Brian to be baptized. I had had this thought before  but this time it was different, the spirit was there so strongly. Then Sister Farris pretended to be cracking her back and whispered to me "invite him to be baptized" and that was the confirmation I needed. So I invited him to be baptized! It was a little rough since I only know it in Spanish, but he said YES. It was the best feeling ever!! We are so excited for him! Later we headed out on the bikes (13 miles that day) during the excessive heat warning...we took lots of water breaks...and on the way there I was doing pretty good, but Sister Farris turned to me when I was close behind her and said "can you tell your angels to push my bike?!" And I just died right there on my bike! Jajaja We had a lesson with Mr. David, but he didn't read so we read 1 Nephi 1 with him and recommitted him to read the next chapter. Then we headed to Ms. Jan's for a plan of salvation lesson where we brought Sister Nash from the ward. It went great! Ms. Jan loved our different perspective on things like the Fall being needed. She even said that she knows the Book of Mormon is true! Then we biked to Betty's for our usual cheeseburgers, cajun fries and butterscotch shakes. Yum! Then we biked to Mr. Cowboy's house for our first lesson. We got there a little early and knocked on the door...they were obviously home looking through the curtains but since the mom doesn't speak English they didn't open the door. So we waited for Mr. Cowboy to get home...all I heard from inside was "TODAVIA" which means "still" in Spanish, as in we were STILL outside their house...luckily Mr. Cowboy pulled up from work and let us in. We were speaking English at first but it wasn't really going well so I just decided to try to speak some Spanish. I couldn't think of anything to say so I decided to read a scripture in Spanish and then bear my testimony. It wasn't great, but they were listening! We even got a return appointment! MIRACLE! Then I closed by saying a prayer in Spanish! 

On Wednesday we had district counsel! I had to give the refining (where we practice what we learned from the discussion) and I was super nervous about it, but it ended up going great! I even gave them all homework assignments jajaja. We got Chick-fil-a for district lunch and Elder Davis decided to eat an entire pizza in one sitting! Then Elder Tauraa told us about the time he ate 6 whole pizzas in one hour! Crazy! Once we got home we walked over to have a lesson with Lea and Clifton. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and had a talk about keeping commitments. It was amazing! We even mentioned some commandments for baptism and discovered that they are living the law of chastity!! MIRACLE!! 

Thursday morning we had another great lesson with Mr. Brian about the gospel of Jesus Christ where he said that he knows "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church" what a powerful statement! It was great! He even accepted our invitation to a Sunday service! Later we biked to Ms. Jan's and talked about the points of Christ's New Testament Church...it was interesting to say the least...she believes that your denomination doesn't get you to heaven, your personal relationship with Christ does. That really made me think...but we tried to convince her of the need for a church, since she basically said she knows her church is wrong, but she doesn't seem very willing to change…then we biked to Ms. Alexis's apartment and met her 4 adorable girls! We gave them these little hot wheels cars and as I played with the girls, Sister Farris talked with Ms. Alexis. They were so nice and excited for us to come back! Then we biked to Mr. Cowboy's, this time with Sister Dukes, a member in the ward who speaks Spanish, to help me out. Sadly no one was home...we waited for like 30 minutes before deciding to head to our dinner appointment. Sister Dukes was so nice and even let us put our bikes in her car and drove us to meet Sister Ramirez, another Spanish speaker. Sister Dukes was amazing and introduced us in Spanish. Although Sister Ramirez ended up speaking great English! Thank goodness! She was hilarious and fed us this great Mexican food! Then we had to bike home as fast as we could to make it home before 9pm! Miraculously we made it home with 15 minute to spare! 

On Friday we took it easy with the biking and went around ON FOOT contacting outside. During this outside adventure, we knocked on Mr. Tony’s door and he let us in to meet his family! They were all so cute and we even met his wife, Ms. Venus, who totally opened up to us about her struggles and anger with God. We talked and set up a time to come again! At home we were preparing for a biking journey when Sister Russell cancelled our lesson...sadness. Then we left later on the bikes for a lesson with Ms. De’Neill...she wasn’t home...but her neighbors were! A couple was out on the porch with their 2 cute grandkids and they even sang the song “Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so!” It was wonderful! 

On Saturday Sister Farris and I went over to Ms. Pat’s to do some yard service and we SWEATED so much! It’s like her house just has this button that keeps the sweat coming nonstop!! Later we kept sweating as we biked to Hillsboro. We had a lesson with Mr. David and he only read 5 verses of the chapter, which is better than nothing, but we recommitted him AGAIN! Then we biked to Ms. Alexis and introduced the Book of Mormon. As we read the first chapter with her Sister Farris turned to distract her girls and left ME to keep going! I freaked out!! So I bore my testimony, asked a couple questions, read another verse and invited her to finish the chapter and pray about it. It was scary doing that by myself, but I DID IT! Whoop whoop! It's still rough, but it worked jajaja. Then we hurried and biked home for our dinner appointment with the Utsch family! We had black bean burgers, salad and fruit salad! Delicious! Their family is just so cute and so nice!!

On Sunday we had our Sunday service with Mr. Brian planned, but he had to cancel because his mom went to the ER, it was so sad but obviously we understood! We even got to drive to church today and have the sacrament, then we got to teach Ms. Amber about enduring to the end and church callings. We had a Sunday service with Ms. Lea planned and literally as we were at their door she cancelled...we were a little frustrated since she has always cancelled our Sunday services! So we walked home, studied, planned and made some fun pasta for dinner! 

This week was full of so many miracles. I saw so many blessings that came from listening to the spirit and trusting in the Lord at all times! I know that we truly can find peace in Christ and gain power through the spirit to help His children! Being a missionary is the best and I would encourage y'all to look for the tiny miracles that happen every single day because of Him! 

Have a blessed week!

Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!

Love, 

Sister Johnson

July Bike Mileage: 101.2 miles

June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles

Pictures!!!
1. Last pday as Sister Farris and I ate some pizza!
2. Ms. Jan!
3. Sister Ramirez!
4. Sister Farris and I in front of this cool tank.
5. Me in front of the cool tank.

6. Ms. Pat!

Angels Among Us

Hola y'all! 

This was a crazy week full of so many miracles! As President Varner always said, "when you see a cardinal, you'll know that angels are among you". That truly did happen for me this week.

On Tuesday we had p-day which was so weird that it wasn’t on a Monday, but that’s ok. My missionary email kind of broke on p-day so sorry none of the pictures worked, they should work now and my email just got fixed today! After p-day we got to visit this lady named Ms. Kristin, who just moved here and had a baptism date for Sunday the 12th! MIRACLE! We were thrilled to go and meet her. She was so sweet and so nice and so ready to be baptized! We got to answer all of her baptism questions and get to know her better! She really recognizes the importance of God in her life! As we were heading out we discovered a law of chastity issue...which meant we would have to push her baptismal date back...then we were leaving and kind of got chased by a chicken on the way to the car jajaja didn’t think that would happen on my mission. Then we spent our 22nd night on the floor but we finally have a bed bug spray appointment on Wednesday at 8am. 

Wednesday was transfer day! Sister Farris and Sister Cottle had to wake up and leave at 5am to get down to Hammond, Louisiana so that Sister Cottle could transfer to Albany and Sister Farris could give her presentation on the new 12 week training program she created in like 2 days (she is so awesome) to all the new trainees and trainers. This meant that Sister Earl (our new STL (Sister Training Leader)) and I were companions for the day! It was SO WEIRD not being with Sister Farris! But Sister Earl and I got everything ready for the bed bug guy at 8am...then it was 8:15am and we started freaking out! So we decided to go for a walk and just as we were coming to the apartment office a TERMIN-X truck pulled up! We stopped him and asked what apartment he was looking for...it wasn’t us...so we told him our story and convinced him to come and spray our apartment! MIRACLE! He even told us he was gonna “baptize the apartment!” jajaja...he didn’t realize how funny that was to us...then we biked to the church (our home for the day while the apartment was getting sprayed). Then we biked to an appointment with Ms. Sheila, but when we were almost there Sister Farris called us to say that Ms. Sheila cancelled on us. I was really worried to do a lesson without Sister Farris, but still sad it fell through. But we decided to visit some of the people Sister Earl has instead. The first person was Ms. Sandy and we were trying to decide whether to share a scripture or ask about service opportunities. We chose to share a scripture and by the end of it, she brought up the service place she works at on her own! Let me just say that when you put God first, you can accomplish everything! Then we visited Mr. Chales, shared a scripture and biked back to the church. Later we headed out on another biking adventure to Hillsboro to visit some referrals from Sister Earl’s areabook (list of contact info for people in our area that the missionaries have met). On the way there, just before the “death hill” it started POURING rain! Luckily you couldn’t tell the difference between sweat and rain jajaja. None of the referrals were interested, but we did get to talk to some Baptists (also not interested) on the way back to church! Then we prepared for Ms. Kristin’s law of chastity lesson that was gonna be ROUGH! She literally opened up to us about how hard of a life she has had and how excited she is to be baptized...then we had to break it to her that her baptism would be postponed and explained why. She didn’t take it well and saw it as choosing between her baptism and her boyfriend (which we emphasized was not what we were asking her to do because she could still have both) and was silent the rest of the time. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to do so far on the mission and saw how devastated she was when just an hour before she was so excited to join the church. We invited her to pray about it and let’s just say, there was no baptism on Sunday...then we biked home, changed into exercise clothes and walked to Bishop’s house to mow his lawn AND one of Sister Earl’s investigators’ lawn. We mowed them so fast so that we could be done by 8:45pm and then quickly go back home before 9pm. And on the way home we saw FIREFLIES again because it had rained today! They are seriously just so cool, even the second time!! We made it home 5 minutes before 9pm, showered, ate dinner and put the apartment back together (from the bug spray) and Sister Farris arrived just before 10:30 with our new quad-mate Sister Burns! They were so tired from the 5.5 hour drive so we went inside and went to bed! 

On Thursday we woke up to our first sleep in actual beds! It was quite nice, a little weird not sleeping on an air mattress, but nice. We took an early morning bike ride to the Miskins to do some service and help them clean their house in preparation for the move! Afterwards the quad biked to the church for the big leadership training meeting over Zoom. Sister Farris had to explain the mission leaders’ roles involving the new training program. It was very official! After that we biked home and decided to take the car to our first lesson with Mr. David because we were both exhausted from yesterday. Sister Farris’ 10+ hours in the car and me biking 15.2 MILES yesterday! A new record! I was so sore after just biking to the Miskins! It was so nice to take the car, but also strange because it was our first time in the car without the other Sisters because we always bike. Then we had an AMAZING lesson with Mr. David as we read some of 3 Nephi 11 with him from the Book of Mormon. He asked so many questions that really showed how much he was paying attention. It was great! Then we drove home, stopped by some houses and left notes and went to bed...in OUR BEDS!

On Friday we had a morning lesson with Mr. Brian over the phone and discussed the chapter in 3 Nephi 27 that he had read about Christ’s New Testament church. We kind of “fractured his testimony” in his home church as Sister Farris put it because he pointed out that Christ’s church had 12 apostles, but his church does not have 12 apostles...then he agreed to have a tour of our church tomorrow and we sent him a picture of the 12 apostles today!! After we drove to district counsel and Sister Farris and I slept almost the whole way there...we needed it jajaja. We even got to celebrate Elder Davis’ birthday with the cake district leader Elder Tauraa made and the 4 half gallons of Blue Bell we brought! It was weird having 2 new greenies (new missionaries) and not being the youngest one in the district anymore. Then we drove home and later went to the Miskins to pick up a bunch of food from them. 

On Saturday the Nashs drove us to church to give the tour to Mr. Brian! It went so well! He was a little shy at first, but then opened up more and started asking more questions. At the end of the tour we asked him how he was feeling and said that he knows this is the true  church...At first I was shocked that a man, we only just met in person today and who we’ve only read from the Book of Mormon like 3 or 4 times with could know the church was true, then he said he still needed to pray about it. IT WAS CRAZY! The spirit that filled the room and the amount of joy I felt from knowing that this man was one step closer to better knowing Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father was like nothing I've ever felt before. It was such a miracle! Then we went home, had some of the Miskin's beef and bean soup (that had a pretty thick consistency for a soup) for lunch and then went out on our bikes during an excessive heat warning with the temperature being like 97° but the heat index at like 115! IT WAS SO HOT! We took lots of breaks and on the way there Sister Farris stopped and shared the story of someone in the Martin handcart company with me: “‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’” He continues: “‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.'" Sister Farris said that she knew angels would be with us pushing our bikes. That day we biked in the shortest amount of time EVER getting to Hillsboro, it was hard but I wasn't even half as tired as I usually am during that biking journey. AND we biked past Hillsboro, the farthest area we've ever been to. It was truly a miracle! Then our lesson with Mr. David went amazing! He didn't read, BUT we went over the Book of Mormon more in depth and he really seemed to understand it! He even said that he had never heard Joseph Smith explained to him like that! Then we started biking home, took a shake break at Betty's and made it home. Now the bike ride there was easy, the bike ride back home (which is usually so easy) was the hardest it's ever been! It took us twice as long as usual! It was a strange biking day! Also we got home and the Miskin soup did NOT agree with us!

We had a pretty normal Sunday other than Sister Farris and I spending most of the day on the toilet, but we're doing better!

Overall this week was a whole mix of stuff, but it just continually shows me how much I love being a missionary out here in Arkansas doing the Lord's work. I know that when we truly strive to do our best to align our will with God's, there will be angels among us and we will see miracles happen. I know that we can find joy in Christ and in sharing His light with others.

As always, have a blessed week!

Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!

Love, 

Sister Johnson

July Bike Mileage: 62.9 miles

June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles

Pictures!!!

1.     A 4 Sisters bag of rice at Walmart we found pretty funny! 

2.     Sister Earl and I after biking in the rain. 

3.     Cleaning the bathroom as we did service for the Miskins!

4.     Cool street name on the way to Mr. David's. 

5.     Behind the scenes shot.

We Didn't Come This Far, To Only Come This Far

Hola y'all! 

    Alright this week was completely full of some crazy stuff! This is my longest email yet and I am so sorry, BUT I'm loving being a missionary in Arkansas and just want to share everything with y'all!!

   

On Monday we had DISTRICT PDAY!!! We woke up super early to go grocery shopping and then drove to Jonesboro, Louisiana to go fishing!  We went to a member’s house and he has this huge backyard property with a pond! There was even a little dock with a trashcan full of duck food so that we could feed the duck that can’t fly! The Elders were super nice and set us up with fishing poles and everything! My companion caught a bass on her first cast! Then I fished for over 2 hours...I caught 2 sticks, 6 fish (but couldn’t pull them in, so they didn’t count) and a tree before I finally caught a bass and brought him to shore!! The fish was barely hooked and it was a miracle it hadn’t come off like the other 6! It was an extremely exciting moment for me and the Elders helping me with the whole fishing thing! I was so proud, released it back into the pond and then I was all fished out! So we cooked some lunch and s’mores over our campfire! Then we drove back to El Dorado and had a lesson with Ms. Mary. It was amazing because I talked more than I have ever talked before in a lesson! If you know me, then you know this was a BIG deal with how shy I am around people (I followed my District Leader’s advice about praying to be filled with words from the spirit and it worked!!). It was a miracle AND she understood our lesson about there only being ONE prophet!

   

Tuesday was a long, very exciting day. We had a lesson with Mr. Brian (from the paper area book) who lives by Ms. Jan, so we can drop him off a Book of Mormon! Then we walked to Mr. Justin’s, but he didn’t answer...so I decided that missionary work is like fishing...because sometimes it takes a while to actually catch a fish, or find an interested person. After getting our bikes ready, we biked to Lea’s but it turned into just a contact, not a lesson. [Storytime: Here begins a long story of the day, I'm sorry it's so long but it was a crazy day!] We got out of there at 2:45pm and had to bike as fast as we could 2 miles away to the Church to give someone a Bible at 3pm. We literally made it there just before 3pm! MIRACLE! Sadly we waited for 2 hours and they were stuck at work so...we biked the 5 miles to Hillsboro. On the last few hills there we got to “the death hill” as I like to call it, that is so steep, we always have to walk our bikes up it. Today there was a man ahead of us also walking his bike up it (of course...death hill…). As soon as he saw us he started going into the middle of the road to make room for us to be safe (since there are no bike lanes or sidewalks). He was sooo nice, we talked to him as we walked and found out his name is Mr. Rodney. We even got to give him a pass-along card (a card with a picture of Jesus on the front and our number on the back). The real miracle though was as we walked and talked with Mr. Rodney right behind us, we passed this house on the right that had 3 shirtless, clearly drunk men outside blasting music, giving us “the look” as we walked by. I have no idea what would’ve happened if Mr. Rodney was not there talking with us, but him being there was like a secret little blessing because they didn’t bother us. Then we kept biking to Mr. Brian’s apartment complex and dropped off the Book of Mormon in a bag on his door. As we were leaving, there were a bunch of people just hanging out outside, so Sister Farris pulled out her “Tracting tools” aka a little hot wheels car and toy dinosaur to give to the kids. Then just before we hopped on the bikes to go, Sister Farris turned to me and said “Wait, go give them a pass-along card” and I FREAKED OUT. I had never approached someone on my own, let alone a large group of people! I said “No, I don’t think I can do it” and she was like “YES. Now go give it to them, you have to learn” very sternly...so after a lot of hesitation I did...I nervously went up to the closest lady and gave her our card, without really saying much. Then a man came up and was like “Yo, that got Bible verses?” I was like “yeah” and gave him 3 cards! I even explained that we do scripture studies over the phone and that we are the “girl versions” of the Elders (classic line). It went so well! Then on the way out we met Ms. Mia who told us how much she would like to be out spreading the message of Christ like us! We got her number and everything! MIRACLE! Then we went to Betty’s Old Fashion to take a shake break and guess who we saw??? Mr. Rodney!! As soon as he saw us, he offered to get us something! How nice! Of course we said someone else already covered us (since we eat free at Betty's because of our awesome ward members), but it was so cool seeing him AGAIN! We had to drink our shakes real fast though because by the time we left it was 6:22pm and the Elders made us promise to never be there after 6:30pm...and we were on bikes...so we stopped by Ms. Jan's house to set an appointment and talk. Then as we left, her neighbor called us over and we are meeting with him, Mr. Michael, the same day as Jan! (meaning less biking) MIRACLE! Then we started biking home, on the way out I saw a family outside so I stopped and said hi as I waited for Sister Farris to come over...then she said "you got this" and gave it to me AGAIN! I tried to protest because I had no idea what to say, so we probably stood there for a minute in silence before I figured out how to start a conversation. It went well too! We got Mr. Cowboy's number and I even understood a bit of his Spanish! Then we biked home. It was after 7pm at this point and we were talking and biking when all of a sudden we heard a "BANG! BANG!" Sister Farris turned around and said "hey, we gotta go!" We biked as fast and as hard as we possibly could to distance ourselves from the gunshots that were just around the corner. We finally got to the railroad tracks and began to slow down, Sister Farris wanted to take a picture on the tracks and had just stopped when we heard another "BANG! BANG!" and she was like "nevermind" so we continued biking home as fast as we could (11.3 miles round trip) until we got to the last hill to get into our apartment complex, I didn't think I could make it and then a truck pulled up next to me and the guy asked for my Snapchat...I  barely looked at him and just said "no" and kept biking jajaja I was so tired!! Then we got home and collapsed for the night! 

   

On Wednesday we woke up at 4AM to drive 3.5 hours to Alexandria to meet the new Mission President and his wife. Also it marked my 3 months as a missionary!!! Ok so President and Sister Amos are from Louisiana and were so nice as they were speaking to us...until President Amos asked where the greenest of greenies (newest missionary) was...that meant me or Sister Quick since we came out at the same time...unfortunately the Zone leaders had already told President Amos about me, so he picked me! I was in charge of gathering information about crazy mission ideas to change the mission and present the top 3 ideas in front of the Alexandria and Monroe zones!! I just about died in my seat! So after lunch and companionship interviews with President and Sister Amos, I put together my "presentation" and got up in the chapel to tell everyone. I was so nervous, but apparently it went well, so that's good, then the President gave his closing remarks, gave each companionship a 3 foot long dowel to take home and visualize what 6 feet of social distancing looks like jajaja and we went home and went to sleep! 

   

On Thursday we had the same schedule as Tuesday. Great call with Mr. Brian, we did go to Ms. Pat's to do some yard work again where I just about drowned in my own sweat. Then went to Lea's (just as a contact because they were busy with life stuff) to discover they bleached their hair together and moved their wedding back to Halloween...not exactly the news we wanted to hear since she can't get baptized until after their wedding…Then we biked to church and actually got to give out that Bible and then biked to Hillsboro! We had a great lesson with Ms. Jan in her very Southern house (cluttered, lots of pictures and little trinkets/candles everywhere). Then we went to Mr. Michael's, discovered he's Jan's cousin and gave him a Book of Mormon! Then we biked to Mr. Brian's to see if that group was outside again...they didn't want to talk, but a man did come up to us saying he was a Mormon for 3 months and asked if we were polygamists...he didn't really believe us when we said no...oh well. Then we got burgers, fries and shakes at Old Fashion for dinner. While there this little boy asked Sister Farris and I if we were "sisters or just best friends" Sister Farris replied "best friends" jajaja it was great. Since it was after 6pm we decided to take our dinner across the street to a middle school and eat it there, just in case. I guess we'll just always look like hobos as we eat jajaja. Then we biked home and just heard lots of fireworks :) At home we even had a lesson with Ms. Mary! 

   

On Friday we got to visit Sister Pepper! Now her house is what they call a "hoarder home"...it was very cluttered, there were clothes and pictures everywhere, a bunch of random things, it was dark and she had 2 dogs, 3 cats and a rooster. It was very interesting...then we went home, had lunch and Mr. Fred cancelled our lesson, so we just studied and called Mr. Richard, but he didn't have good service so it didn't last long. Then we biked to Chicken Express! There we had dinner with the Nash's!!! They're the best! At home Sister Farris and I went all bike expert on Sister Cottle's bike and fixed it up all by ourselves!!

   

Saturday was the 4th of July! This meant we didn't have much to do because of the holiday...however we had a great lesson with Mr. Brian over the phone and did some yard work for Ms. Pat again. Then we got the bikes ready and biked to our meeting spot with Mr. Fred, but apparently he was out of town...so we biked home and called Mr. Richard, but he didn't answer. Nobody really answers on a holiday I guess...then the Nash's came over and brought us food! We had our own 4th of July BBQ with ribs, baked beans, cole slaw and potato salad! Then we even got to see fireworks from our balcony! 

   

On Sunday we got a call in the morning from the AP's (assistants to the President)! Now this was a HUGE deal because it's transfers (switching missionary companions and areas, all picked by the new Mission President who's been here a whole week) this week, hence pday is on Tuesday and everyone moves around on Wednesday. I got super nervous because I didn't want anything to change! Then a thought came to my mind that said "It'll be ok" and I immediately started feeling a lot better, I knew things would change but that it would work out the way it's supposed to :) Luckily it wasn't transfer news yet, they were calling about a Sister Farris training project that she worked on all day after church, our lesson with Ms. Amber and Lea cancelled the Sunday service again...then for dinner we had burgers from the Nash's! 

   

Monday was weird with it not being pday! We biked to an appointment with Ms. Sheila at 10am, our earliest biking journey yet! When we got there she wasn't there but her son was (who remembered the Elders coming over!) and we talked to him long enough until Ms. Sheila got home! We rescheduled for Wednesday and she found a Book of Mormon in her house! It's amazing the seeds past missionaries have planted for us now! MIRACLE! We biked home and Sister Farris worked on her project until we biked to Hillsboro again. We met with Mr. Michael who wanted to give us back the Book of Mormon.. he said that his pastor told him it was a Muslim book...we explained that they study out of a different book and that the Book of Mormon supports, explains and expounds upon what is said in the Bible, but he wasn't listening anymore. We did get him to keep the book though...planting the seeds...then we had a GREAT lesson with Ms. Jan about how the Bible and Book of Mormon work together to testify of Jesus Christ! Afterward, we decided it was best to bike to the church for Sister Farris' meeting instead of staying in Hillsboro super late. She had a zoom meeting with another Elder, the AP's and President Amos! It was a big deal and they made a whole new 12 week training program to train the new people coming in on Wednesday (2 days away)! It's crazy! Then we biked home and transfer news began! Sister Farris and I are staying together, but Sister Cottle is leaving to Albany and Sister Earl is becoming the new STL (Sister Training Leader). Transfers are crazy, but I know that everything is done by the spirit, according to God's will. 

   

So this week was jam packed with all sorts of great things. I would like to explain the subject line of this email...this is President Amos' new theme for the mission and I love it because it's true, we did not come this far to only come this far. I think it describes my mission so far perfectly because after all these changes, I'm still going, there is still so much room for improvement jajaja and so much more I can do to take the work even farther. It means that we shouldn't be satisfied with where we are because everyone can improve somewhere every single day.  We can keep going, keep moving forward and keep progressing every single day, no matter what our current situation is. And I know that this gospel is one of second chances and of continuous progression because our loving Heavenly Father wants us to come back to Him again. And I know that we only have all these second chances because of the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed week!

Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!

Love, 

     Sister Johnson

July Bike Mileage: 30.9 miles

Things found in the street this week

-cowboy boot 

-a half drunken vitamin water zero

-2 boxes of light bulbs

-5 unrecognizable "pancake animals"

-racoon

-Lots of cigarettes

Pictures!!!

1. Stick #2 caught on district pday

2. The fish I finally caught after fishing for 2+ hours!!! I was so happy!

3. Sister Farris and I in the car on the way to Alexandria 

4. Me with my Shipley's donut we woke up at 4am to get

5. The quad action shot about to eat Shipley's

6. Sister Farris and I eating dinner like homeless people on the steps of this middle school in Hillsboro

7. Lots of churches in the South…

8. We finally got our railroad pictures! 

9. The quad at Sister Pepper's hoarder home! 

10. Chicken Express with Brother Nash!