Hola y'all!
Dude I can't even believe that I have to start telling people I've been out for 5 months! Ahhhhhh that's crazy man! I don't even know what I'm doing!!! But enjoy this email ;)
Monday was our first full day in Many. We got special permission to sleep in until 7:30am and it was wonderful. We chilled out and went to Nachitoches for district pday since the Sisters were all in Many and the Elders (Elder Teare, Elder Genda, Elder Hanks and Elder Hales) were all in Nachitoches. The town was basically like a mini New Orleans, at least that's what Sister Estes said...we got to visit a cool historic site on the river front and eat Popeye's bought for us by Elder Teare's mom. It was lots of relaxing fun, we even played Uno! Then we went to Walmart where basically everything was gone…no produce, no meat, no eggs, no cheese, etc. It was pretty sad. Then we all drove the 40 minutes back to Many and deep cleaned that disgusting Elder apartment for the rest of the day. It was so gross, just imagine teenage boys living there for 9 YEARS with no real supervision...gross.
On Tuesday we were on a hunt for service and basically things to do out of our area. At the end of personal study, there was a knock on our door from Ms. Amber, one of our neighbors who was moving out. She asked for help and we were able to serve her by helping her move all her stuff! MIRACLE! Then we walked down to the Sheriff's department in search of service. The dude there directed us to Brookshire's to help them out. We went there and they directed us to city hall for service. So we went there and it was closed...oof. So we called some people and decided to go to DeRidder after lunch. We went to a warehouse and it took a sec to find the people...but they didn't need us anymore that day...so we drove to Leesville to a church handing out food...they didn't need anymore help...BUT they directed us to 2 places that needed help. The first place...was closed. The second place was...OPEN and in need of help! So we served there bagging and handing out meals to people for a few hours then headed home, got Pizza Hut and ate Blue Bell for my 5 months as a missionary! :)
Wednesday was district council! We all met up at the Nachitoches church building and had a mission wide zoom call with President Amos discussing safety with crisis cleanup on the weekends. Literally 3 zones of missionaries are gonna be coming to the Rosepine command center to help out doing work orders! That's so exciting! Then we went to lunch at Little Caesar's, came back to the church and discussed the whole living situation and working our areas...basically to be determined later since only one set of missionaries are actually in their area still jajaja. Then we drove back to Many and all took naps because none of us have gotten any actual good sleep in a LONG time. Afterwards we decided to pray about our situation because Leesville got power back, but they don't know for how long...so we had to figure out if we were going there or maybe only some of us...ahhhhhh. I got a really strong prompting that we needed to wait, so we decided to wait until Saturday to make a final decision...then we all took a walk in the cemetery across the street and all had a comp. study. Then we came home and Sister Estes made shredded chicken with beans and corn and garlic bread. Yum. Sister Murdock even got a lesson with a man from Chile so we can practice Spanish. She is originally assigned to Chile and is one transfer younger than me so we'll see how that goes on Friday! The Sister Newby and Sister Estes wrestled. Sister Estes won all 3 rounds...that's my comp!
Thursday was kind of a mess to be honest jajaja. We were showering 6 sisters in one shower in one hour...surprisingly it's been working over the past few days. Then during daily planning Ms. Sarah from the DeRidder sheriff's department called us asking us to help out at the warehouse (the one we went to on Tuesday) to deliver hot meals to people in the evening...since we are crunched on miles, living over an hour out of our area, we said we'd look at our schedule and get back to her. At first I was like "there is NO way considering our mile allotment!" then we went to the car, did some miles math and said a prayer and I felt so strongly that this was an answer to prayers, someone was literally asking US to do service instead of desperately searching for service to do. After many prayers Sister Estes and I decided to go. Then Ms. Sarah texted us and asked how many vehicles we were bringing...just one...then she asked if we'd be able to deliver 200 MEALS…so we asked the other sisters to come and help, said many prayers, called some people and decided that us and Sister Newby and Sister Hansen would go down with both cars and all of our stuff to stay in the Leesville apartment. Then Sister Murdock and Sister John would take the Many Elders' truck to bring their mattresses and all the Elders would stay in Many. So we packed up our homeless suitcases and booked it to Leesville, dropped our stuff and went to the warehouse in DeRidder. As we entered the city of DeRidder there was a small storm that had flooded the roads, even more than the hurricane! We had to drive through it and take side roads to get around the big flooding spots, but we finally got to the warehouse. When we got there the hot meals weren't ready yet so they fed us hamburgers for lunch and we helped unload some 18 wheelers full of various things. Then the sheriff's department gave us the address to the church we would drop off the meals to...it was 9 miles outside of our mission, near Lake Charles...so we called President Amos and he said no to the Leesville sisters...then we called President Amos and he said yes...very reluctantly, but still a yes! So we did it! It was strange, the damage got worse and worse the farther we went, but we were in, dropped the meals to the people at the Pentecostal church and left. They were very grateful and it just amazes me how little I can do to help brighten someone's day and serve them. Then we went back to the warehouse and organized a bunch of random canned foods and they fed us Jambalaya for dinner. They were all very grateful for our help:) Then since Leesville got power back we moved to Leesville! However their apartment manager is stingy about 2 people per apartment, so the quad of Sisters actually have 2 apartments across the hall...this meant that Sister Estes and I had to split up and each sleep in a different apartment...it's weird...
On Friday we actually had some normal study time and weekly planning, then headed down to the Rosepine church building in the afternoon to unload another 18 wheeler of stuff. After unloading everything for a few hours, Sister Estes and I took some MRE's and water to deliver to someone who was interested in our message. Her name is Linda and she was super sweet and old and we couldn't escape without getting a hug from her. She was hesitant at first, but by the end she really warmed up to us and was open to having us visit sometime. We were gonna deliver to another person, but Sister Murdock and I had a lesson with a Chilean man...so we went back to the Leesville apartment, I changed and we called him. I was very nervous about it, but he didn't answer. Then we were watching the lightning storm outside when a huge lightning bolt struck the power out, then it came back on, then went off and then on and finally off again. That's when he called us back, but the service was bad and the call ended...oof. We were having an electricity struggle as it came on and off constantly, we were all basically on the verge of tears if the power stayed off permanently. So for our own sanity, we started walking around outside in the cool air. Eventually the power came back on! Woohoo! So we had some Blue Bell and went to sleep.
Saturday we basically ran out of food since on pday the Walmart we went to had nothing and we left half our stuff in the Many apartment because it wouldn't stay cold during the drive...honestly it's been a struggle knowing where my next meal is coming from, but it's ok. For breakfast I had some stale cereal the church gave us last weekend...yum. Then we went to Walmart to buy work boots, since President Amos wants us to use an "abundance of caution" while out serving. All the missionaries split up into different work crews and even missionaries from outside our district came to help! Sister Estes and I worked on one house for the whole day! The old woman had evacuated, but there were like 3 huge trees that had fallen on her house and broke part of the roof. She also had a shed that was completely destroyed. We worked there from 10am until 5pm, taking a lunch break where they gave us these nice sack lunches! MIRACLE! We had to stop because there was a storm, but luckily they had just finished putting a tarp over the roof! There was rain and lightning and thunder that sounded like a gunshot and shook your whole body with how close it was! It was super cool! Then we headed back to the command center in the pouring rain and flooding. We got to eat dinner, red beans and rice, with our district provided by the members there. MIRACLE! It was a great day!
On Sunday we drove to Rosepine to work at the command center again. We went to this house with 5 other missionaries from the Denham Springs area that came up with some members. We went to this house with an older couple that both have cancer and couldn't get out there to do the work themselves. There were also like 2 trees fallen on their house, so that's difficult...the lady, Ms. Valorey, was so nice and believes in Christ so much and has such a strong testimony of relying on him since she has battled cancer 5 times now! She is one strong woman! We even got her phone number! This was the first house we finished before lunch! So we headed to the command center for a new work order. We met up with our district and President McKay (a counselor in the mission presidency) to do more work orders. We went to like 4 different houses in search of someone to help, but each house we got to looked perfectly fine...then we finally found a trailer with a HUGE tree on it that we were able to help with. We couldn't get the whole tree gone, but a lot of it on the roof and branches on the ground we were able to get. :) Then we went to the command center to have dinner (chicken sandwiches) at the church and have a mini sacrament meeting for Sister Estes and I since we were gone when the district did it in the morning. It was very nice of them. Our district leader, Elder Teare, also gave Sister Hansen a priesthood blessing. It was just so cool to be there and witness how the Lord speaks through His servants. At one point during the blessing Elder Teare got super emotional and so did the other Elders in the circle, it was super touching and I just kept thinking about how those couldn't be Elder Teare's words...he was even saying stuff about her that he didn't know! The spirit man! It's so cool! Afterwards we went to deliver some food and water to Dusti, our referral, but he wasn't home and the family there didn't really need much help...it was kind of awkward...then on the way home Sister Estes was talking about a woman Ms. Melissa, who lived in the RV we passed and was super interested in the gospel a few months ago, but they never got her contact info and since we can't "knock doors without being expected" they had never came back. So I suggested we ask her if she needed food or water, like we've been doing with a bunch of people the past few weeks, so we turned around and did it. We knocked and she was home! MIRACLE! And she needed food! So we were able to give her food and get her phone number because she's still interested and even said she's been reading the Book of Mormon! What a great end to the day!
Well let me just say that service is amazing. I know that as I strive to listen to the spirit, I receive blessings. This week I was homeless and was slowly running out of food, but I put my trust in God and He provided. I know that He can do that for everyone that puts their trust in Him and chooses to rely on Him. I have seen it work in my life and I KNOW that it can work for y'all too. I love being a missionary, even though being a missionary is kind of strange right now...I love it and can't wait to see wait the next 13 months have in store for me :))
Have a blessed week!
Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!
Love,
Sister Johnson
September Bike Mileage: 0.0 miles (I have no bike...sadness…)
August Bike Mileage: 46.9 miles
July Bike Mileage: 161.0 miles
June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles
Pictures!!!
1. Pday in Nachitoches!!
2. Getting a picture with the Desert semi truck of supplies!
3. Action shot of us unloading the truck;)
4. Smiling through my mask with Sister estes and Sister Murdoch!
5. Sister Hansen and I taking a water break
6. The other half of what used to be our building...after the tree fell on it...
7. Sweating while we work!
8. Work order #1 done for Ms. Valorey!
9. Missionary group photo while we searched for more service to do
10. Giant tree that fell on someone's home
11. District photo in front of said tree…
12. District photo in front of fallen tree part 2
13. Picking up some sticks with Sister Estes :)
14. Photo with the family we were helping out
15. President McKay's son, Caleb, an honorary member of our district with his phone he left on our car after we drove away...
1. Pday in Nachitoches!!
2. Getting a picture with the Desert semi truck of supplies!
3. Action shot of us unloading the truck;)
4. Smiling through my mask with Sister estes and Sister Murdoch!
5. Sister Hansen and I taking a water break
6. The other half of what used to be our building...after the tree fell on it...
7. Sweating while we work!
8. Work order #1 done for Ms. Valorey!
9. Missionary group photo while we searched for more service to do
10. Giant tree that fell on someone's home
11. District photo in front of said tree…
12. District photo in front of fallen tree part 2
13. Picking up some sticks with Sister Estes :)
14. Photo with the family we were helping out
15. President McKay's son, Caleb, an honorary member of our district with his phone he left on our car after we drove away...
