JOHNSON, MEGAN: First Week In The Mission Field!!!

Hola y'all!

Alright y'all (yes it's true, here in the South they use "y'all" very frequently so I'm slowly getting the hang of Southern talk) I am sending out my first email from the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission or as they call it the LBRM! Y'all will never guess where my first area is…*drum roll please*... EL DORADO, ARKANSAS!! So the LBRM consists of almost the entire state of Louisiana, almost the entire state of Mississippi and a little chunk of Arkansas and that is where I will be for the next 2 transfers (1 transfer = 6 weeks and my training period lasts 12 weeks) with my amazing trainer, Sister Farris! Ok before I start telling y'all everything that's happened already I will talk about my week.

Soooooo on Tuesday my family dropped me off at the San Diego airport (with our masks on of course) and luckily we got my 2 BIG suitcases both to weigh 49 lbs so we didn't have to pay extra! Then we said goodbye, I gave hugs to everyone and my mom even got a little teary-eyed but I held it together for her and they watched me all the way through security. I had a full flight to Dallas (much to my mom's disappointment) and then got on my flight to Baton Rouge and found 5 other missionaries also going there! (All of them straight out of the MTC, an Elder originally assigned to LBRM speaking Spanish, an Elder originally assigned to Madagascar, an Elder originally assigned to Argentina, an Elder originally assigned to El Salvador and a Sister originally assigned to Peru) It was really nice to be in a small group of missionaries when we landed so we could all find Mission President Varner and hop in a van with his wife. President and Sister Varner are both so nice and sweet to us missionaries, they even took us out to lunch! Then we drove to the mission office and got to know the missionaries there more. After we went to the mission home, the cutest Southern house ever with a wrap around porch,rocking chairs on the porch and a fancy circle driveway. There they fed us and I mean they FED US! My ENTIRE plate was full with salad, watermelon, Cane's (super famous restaurant place in Louisiana) chicken fingers and some Jumbalaya (which is like rice, chicken, sausage). It was all REALLY GOOD, but the Jumbalaya was definitely on the spicy side and as you all know I CANNOT handle spice at all, but my companion says I will by the end of my time in the South!

On Wednesday all the missionaries woke up from our sleepover at the mission home and headed to the mission office to meet our trainers! That is where all 17 of us new missionary trainees met our trainers/companions. My companion is Sister Farris and she is absolutely the best! She has been here for about a year and seems to know everyone and everything! She is so enthusiastic about everything and gave me the biggest hug ever when I first saw her! Then we got in the car for our 5.5 hour drive (the longest drive that transfer) to Arkansas. Fun fact: we are the only area in the mission that is entirely Arkansas, also we are still opening up the area a bit, so there aren't many people to teach but we will find them! On the way up we stopped for lunch at the Francis where Sister Farris and I both got a pulled pork sandwich and a budan ball (it's super Southern and has Jumbalaya in the center, encased in sausage and then is deep fried so welcome to the South!). Eventually we made it home to the quad (we live with 2 other Sister missionaries in the same apartment) that consists of Sister Earl and Sister Cottle (reassigned from Brazil). They are both amazing as well!! To show how much the members really love us here in Arkansas, for dinner a member delivered us 4 LARGE BOXES of pizza for dinner! That's a box for each of us!!

On Thursday (technically my first day "in the mission") I realized that as missionaries we pray A LOT, like at least 10 times a day, that probably surprised me the most about mission life and how much they trust us missionaries who just live 5 5 hours away to be good missionaries. But I had my first lesson scheduled for Thursday (I WAS SUPER NERVOUS TO TEACH) with a girl named Lea, whose fiancee, Clifton, is a recent convert. We walked to her apartment, but the man who answered the door said she was asleep so we didn't get to teach her. But we still got to do missionary stuff that day at a member's (the Miskin family, a cute middle-aged couple from Washington) house. We are only allowed to do service projects for people outside, not going in their house to prevent the spread of COVID-19 so we helped the Miskins paint their deck and then ate dinner and practiced teaching them the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The food was SO GOOD, we had pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad and for dessert we had the best chocolate cake ever with homemade ice cream!

On Friday we drove 55 miles to district council (group of 5 companionships in the Monroe Zone area) in Ruston. We even had chick-fil-a for lunch! Then we drove back and had another service project for Brother Bates, helping him clean up his yard. We showed up in our work clothes ready to take some leaves, clip tree branches and pull some weeds! Then Brother Bates and his mom fed us taco salad for dinner. I did thought I was gonna die for a while because the nacho cheese sauce was SO SPICY but I just kept drinking water and completed my goal of finishing my entire plate, with Sister Farris giving me lots of "are you ok?" looks jajaja. Then we had yummy banana pudding for dessert before sharing a spiritual thought and heading out. At home we video called a less active member as a quad and taught her the importance of going to church which was kinda hard since we can't go to church right now. But overall it went well :)

On Saturday we had a quick district devotional over Zoom in the morning. For lunch we got to go back to the Miskins because they wanted us to eat Brother Miskins' famous spaghetti sauce. It was SO GOOD, AGAIN! We had salad, corn, cubed watermelon, fancy spaghetti noodles, delicious spaghetti sauce and yummy French bread garlic stuff. Then we shared a spiritual thought while dessert was getting ready. Brother Miskin was so proud of his dessert, think of root beer floats, but with homemade ice cream and peach crush (only available in the South). It was really good! After we went home and had an amazing lesson with the cutest little old woman who loved reading from the book of Mormon with us and we even got to deliver her our last Book of Mormon in the apartment! When we gave it to her she literally hugged it and was so happy, it was a miracle! For dinner we drove to the Flying Burger for po boys (sandwiches on a big bun with meat, pickles, mayo, tomatoes and onions). I got one with crispy shrimp in it and hush puppies on the side and it was pretty good.

On Sunday we got to go to church for sacrament with a small group (only 4 other people) which was a blessing. Then as a quad we reviewed the Restoration with Ms. Amber, a recent convert, and her dad whose been a member since he was 11. It was really cool to get her to open up to us and hear her strong testimony. Then we went home to watch a Sunday service on Facebook live. Then we went back to church for a lesson with Ms. Lea but it fell through again :'( It's ok though, we rescheduled with her and Sister Earl made us chicken curry to build my spice tolerance!

Overall it was an amazing week and I can't wait to find more people to teach, meet Ms. Lea and see how Ms. Mary is doing with reading the Book of Mormon. Being a missionary in the South is fantastic, my companion is literally THE BEST and the missionaries I live with are the nicest people ever. I have already learned so much about the gospel and myself this week and am so excited for the next 16 months!

Love,

Sister Johnson

Love y'all and have a blessed week!!

P.S. "have a blessed day" is everyone's favorite phrase to say here it's the best!

P.P.S sorry for the extreme long email, a lot of things happened this week :)

Pictures!!!

1. Just before the plane landed in Baton Rouge I noticed how flat, green and swampy Louisiana is

2. Me landed safely in Louisiana with Mission President varner helping me with my suitcase

3. The mission home!!

4. All 17 new missionaries in front of the mission home!!

5. Long drive with my companion!

6. Going over a bridge on the Mississippi River!