JOHNSON, MEGAN: 4 Months As A Missionary!

Let's just get right on down to business!

On Monday we had a district pday where Elder Jacobson fixed both of my bikes from members in the ward and we all played volleyball and ate Chick-Fil-A! After pday we had an appointment with Ms. Venus, but she was busy so we had to reschedule. Then Mr. David called us that night and said that he prayed to God and was told to only read the Bible, not the Book of Mormon...so he dropped us...that was kind of sad and I asked Sister Farris why God would tell him that the Book of Mormon isn't true when I KNOW that it is through my own prayers with the same God? She and Elder Davis turned me to Moroni 10:4 in the book of Mormon that says "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." So if he didn't pray with real intent or wasn't willing to make the changes necessary to come closer to God, he would get an answer he wanted, not an answer God wanted to give him. It helped me realize that prayers can be powerful as we pray with faith and strive to align our will with God's.

On Tuesday we biked to Sister Russell (less active member). She had 3 other ladies over and our goal was to teach anyone on the couch! One of them left, but we got Tianna and Tyenia (her teenage daughter) to stay! We even gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon to read from! Sister Russell loved helping answer their questions and adding her comments in. And her daughter, Tyenia, had so many questions and really wanted to understand! Tyenia even set up our next appointment! I also learned what a switch is...Sister Russell had one and has almost used it multiple times...it's basically a willow branch, straight from outside, without any leaves that they use to give young kids a whopping before they are old enough for the belt and then the shoe...but that's completely normal here apparently. Then we biked to Ms. Alexis, but she said to come back another time...so we biked to our appointment with Mr. Terry but he wasn't home...so we biked to Ms. Lena who we called from the paper areabook, but she wasn't home either..so we started biking home. We decided to stop by the Redford's (member couple) and drop off a note. We also saw a lady outside gardening and talked to her. Her name is Ms. Sally and she said we could stop by and read the scriptures! At home we got a message from Ms. Tressie saying she didn't want to read from "our Bible" so we shouldn't come visit her...another person who dropped us. But then we had our first video call lesson with our referral, Malika. We had a Bible study centered around John 14:6 all planned out, just like she asked. She's this really nice 16 year old girl, who has such a strong desire to change and become better! As we read Matthew 3 about Christ's baptism, she told us how she was wanting to be baptized again but no churches were open...that's when Sister Farris nudged me and I invited her to be baptized! She said yes! It was crazy! Sister Farris has never even committed someone to baptism on the first lesson! But she is so willing and ready to change!

Wednesday we had a district council about the spirit. Then we had a district lunch where Elder Jacobson roasted Sister Farris about not wanting to leave her mission in 3 transfers. He said "Your life's a mission. Get over it." In the most hick, Idaho accent ever, it was hilarious, but true. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can be a missionary! On the way back to El Dorado, the other Sisters dropped us off closer to our appointment with Malika. We biked to her house as it started raining (not too much though), when we got there the rain stopped just long enough for us to lock up our bikes. We were able to give Malika a Book of Mormon and everything! She was a little shy in person, so we decided to stick to video calls. Then we spent about 15 solid minutes trying to remove the bike lock before we said a prayer and then got it off...jajaja...then we decided to just bike home because of the thunder and rain that was really starting to come down. There was even a lightning strike that happened so close to us, the thunder came right after and was SO LOUD! We started biking as fast as we could home in the POURING rain! We were soaked!

On Thursday we hopped on the bikes and went to Ms. Jan’s. We had planned a drop lesson (where we say that we will stop teaching them) for an hour, trying to plan everything out since Ms. Jan doesn’t want to change or come to church with us. When we got to her lesson though she really surprised us! #1 she hadn’t read what we asked her to from the Bible (usually she is so good at her commitments). #2 she said she’d be willing to come to church with us one day! What a miracle! We also weren’t quite sure what to do! She started talking about a funeral she was attending this weekend and the spirit world. Then somehow we got into baptisms for the dead, temples and eternal families! And the whole time it was HER asking US the questions to know more! MIRACLE! It was the best lesson ever! Crazy! Then we biked to our appointment with Gabe, but then we discovered he doesn't live in the house we thought he lived in...but we sure did meet the man that did live there, who also owned the entire street! Then we went to Betty's Old Fashion for some fries and a shake for lunch. Yum! When we biked home there was a girl outside doing...COLOR GUARD! I got so excited and ended up helping her create a routine! It was by far my favorite service activity ever! Then we got the car and drove to dinner with Sister Ramirez! She made us some mangos with cayenne pepper as a snack, they were very spicy! For dinner we had fish and rice with pico de gallo with MANGO! It was really good! She even made us a papaya drink! She's the best!

Well Friday was an interesting day...I was checking my tick bites, as per usual, when I noticed some extra bumps on my back...I asked Sister Farris to look, we sent some pictures to the Mission nurse and I got a doctor's appointment. It was all over video conferencing which was wack! I talked with a doctor in Utah, she looked at some pictures of the bumps and through video and said that I have Molluscum. It's basically a pox virus that babies and young children get since they have sensitive skin. Sister Farris says she had it when she was 8...in summary I have baby skin and got a prescription cream to put on it for the next 2 weeks. We went out walking for an appointment, but his address didn't exist...awkward! At home we had a lesson with Malika and she already read to 1 Nephi 21! She's so awesome! Later we called Ms. Mary and got to read a chapter in the Book of Mormkn with her.

Saturday we had service at good ole Ms. Pat's! We stayed out of the bushes and tall grass this time though ;) no ticks! It also was my 4 month mark as a missionary! Time really is flying by SO fast! We were supposed to have dinner with Ms. Marta from Ms. Kristen's baptism...but she wasn't home. So we stopped by the Utsch's and dropped off their bike EXCEPT they said we could keep it permanently! I have a bike! They even bought us dinner from the Flying burger! MIRACLE!

On Sunday we walked to church and had a great lesson with Mr. Brian! It was his first time actually coming to the church building and he came in with some nice shoes on, his scripture bag and Book of Mormon in hand! He's the best! Then we had a surprise visit from….MS. JAN! She actually came to church and we got to give her a tour! She really liked it! And we had a video call with Malika and had one of the young women in the ward teach it. She really connected to her and it was great!

Overall the members here are great and there are so many tender mercies I have seen every single day in the mission. God really does answer our prayers, when we sincerely ask and are willing to receive. I can't even explain how much my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Book of Mormon has grown during my time here in Arkansas. I love being a missionary!

Have a blessed week!

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

Love,

Sister Johnson

August Bike Mileage: 0.0 miles (so far…)

July Bike Mileage: 161.0 miles

June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles

Pictures!!!