JOHNSON, MEGAN: 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